^,■0' 


//—^ 


ALUMNI  LIBRARY, 
THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY, 

Princeton,  n.  j. 


|j         Case,    DW}&\o<\^^Cr-rC,-<'..A  .   . 

I        Shelf,  Se^o.^^>^L\         ^ 


\ 


FEMALE   CONVENT 


SECRETS  \ 

OF  ^ 

NUNNERIES    DISCLOSED. 


COMPILED    FROM    THE 

AUTOGRAPH     MANUSCRIPTS 

OF 

SCIPIO    DE    Rice  I, 

ROMAN    CATHOLIC    BISHOP    OF    PISTOIA    AND    PRATO. 

BY  MR.  DE  POTTER. 

EDITED    BY    THOMAS    ROSCOE. 
WITH  AN 

INTRODUCTORY  ESSAY  AND  APPENDIX. 


AgU^O,   (5el|w  (foi  T>]V  (Xr]TS^a  TWV  -TTOpVCOV. 


NEW  YORK: 
D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  200  BROADWAY 

18  3  4. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1834  by 

D.    APPLETON    &    CO., 

In  the  clerk's  office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Southern  District  of 
New  \  ork. 


VVM.  VAN  NCRDEN,  I  HIST. 


NOTICE 


The  onsuing  disclosures  respecting  Monachism  and  Pope- 
ry are  selected  from  the  "  Memoirs  of  Scipio  de  Ricci,  late 
Bisaop  of  Pistoia  and  Prato,  Reformer  of  Catholicism  in  Tus- 
cany, during  the  reign  of  Leopold.  Compiled  from  the  auto- 
graph manuscripts  of  that  Prelate.  Edited  from  the  original 
of  Mr.  de  Potter,  by  Thomas  Roscoe."     London,  1829. 

Almost  one  half  of  the  two  original  volumes  are  filled  with 
the  history  of  Italy  during  the  period  subsequent  to  the 
French  revolution  in  1789,  and  with  incidental  notices  of 
Ricci's  private  life,  and  that  of  his  numerous  friends  and  cor- 
respondents. Nearly  all  those  political  and  military  details 
are  omitted ;  because  the  sole  objects  designed  by  the  present 
publication  are  these;  to  unfold  the  genuine  and  unvarying 
practices  of  male  and  female  convents ;  and  to  demonstrate, 
that  the  claims  of  the  Papacy  are  totally  incompatible  with 
civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  equally  destructive  of  indi- 
vidual dignity,  social  decorum,  and  national  intelligence 
and  enjoyments . 

As  the  present  work  is  reprinted  from'  the  **  Memoirs  of 
Scipio  de  Ricci,"  with  those  alterations  only  which  were  in- 
dispensable to  preserve  the  continuity  of  the  narrative  ;  the 
English  editor's  preface  imparts  all  requisite  information  con- 
cerning this  most  valuable  andlnteresting  development'of  the 
character  of  nunneries,  the  motives  and  arts  of  the  Papal 
priesthood,  and  the  immutable  and  universally  mischievous 
and  detestable  policy  of  the  Pontiffs  and  ecclesiastical  Court 
of  Rome. 


ii^ 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/femaleconventsseOOricc 


PREFACE    BY    THOMAS    ROSCOE. 


Scipio  DE  Ricci  deservedly  ranks  among  the  sincere  and 
venerable  defenders  of  religious  truth  and  liberty  :  and  Mr.  de 
Potter,  in  collecting  these  materials,  has  performed  a  task 
very  acceptable  to  the  students  of  contemporary  history. 

During  the  agitating  and  fearful  drama  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  when  liberty  herself  was  desecrated  by  being  allied 
with  Atheism,  and  made  the  enemy  of  outraged  humanity, 
the  Bishop  of  Prato  and  Pistoia  planned  a  system  of  reform 
winch  would  have  established  the  freedom  of  his  countrymen 
on  true  moral,  intellectual,  and  religious  improvement.     The 
most  zealous  enemy  of  injustice  in  states  and  governments 
was  not  more  opposed  to  oppression,  nor  more  fervent  in  his 
desire  of  seeing  mankind  emancipated  from  every  species  of 
tyrannous  thraldom  ;  but  he  was  superior  in  his  design  to  thef) 
!  spirit  of  the  age.     He  desired  reform  civil  and  ecclesiastic;'' 
land  endeavored  to  pursue  a  line  of  action,  which,  if  success- 
,'ful,  would  have  led  to  the  establishment  of  religious  and  moral 
/  improvement  in  the  Italian  States. 

The  narrative  of  the  struggles,  of  the  hardships  and  afflic- 
tions, which  this  prelate  had  to  encounter  in  carrying  on  his  re- 
forms, is  a  most  interesting  biography.  Emancipating  himself 
from  the  trammels  of  falsehood  and  superstition,  he  appears 
to  have  been  carried  forward  by  the  purity  and  moral  correct- 
ness of  his  feelings,  and  by  the  exercise  of  an  ingenuous 
mind  in  the  defence  of  truth  and  right.  But  Ricci,  though 
possessing  all  the  virtues  of  humanity,  and  all  the  sincerity 
which  should  form  the  character  of  a  reformer,  was  wanting 
in  those  sterner  elements  which  are  requisite  to  a  man  stand- 
ing in  the  situation  that  he  occupied.  His  good  sense  and 
his  love  of  truth  excited  his  hatred  of  the  base  and  enslaving 

1* 


k 


PREFACE. 

superstitions  with  which  he  saw  religion  corrupted.  His  hu- 
manity made  him  wish  to  see  his  fellow  creatures  freed  from 
such  degradation;  but  his  spirit,  never  bold  enough  to  main- 
tain such  a  situation,  failed  him.  His  ideas  of  the  duty  of 
submission,  united  with  the  natural  mildness  of  his  character, 
confounded  the  plain  and  obvious  reasoning  which  a  stronger 
mind  would  have  employed  ;  and  he  fell  a  victim  to  his  own 
want  of  determination,  and  to  the  artifices  of  the  common 
enemies  of  himself,  of  liberty,  and  of  religion. 

Many  papers  of  the  immense  mass  of  documents  which  the 
original  Editor  of  Ricci's  Life  has  printed,  could  only  be  valu_ 
able  to  those  who  require  to  be  told,  that  where  superstition 
and  political  profligacy  reign  in  their  most  degraded  foj 
morality  and  decency  must  be  entirely  forgotten.  As  the 
vices  of  the  monks  and  nuns  are  sufficiently  exposed,  we  have, 
therefore,  spared  the  reader  the  disgusting  toil  of  perusing 
details  which  would  add  no  additional  proof  to  a  truth  already 
known. 

The  original  work,  of  which  all  the  valuable  and  importanl 
parts  are  here  presented  to  the  reader,  was  composed  from 
the  autograph  manuscripts  and  private  memorials  of  Ricci. 
They  were  furnished  to  the  Editor  by  the  nephew  of  the^ 
Prelate  ;  and  no  doubt  exists  respecting  their  authenticity. 


INTRODUCTORY   ESSAY 


Among  "  the  signs  of  the  times,"  no  one  is  more  replete 
with  melancholy  forebodings,  than  the  rapid  extension  of  the 
monastic  system,  both  in  these  United  States  and  in  Britain. 
Three  hundred  years  ago,  the  English  Monasteries  and  Nun- 
neries were  demolished  by  act  of  parliament ;  the  preamble 
of  which  alleged  as  the  cause  of  their  dissolution,  the  inde- 
scribable turpitude  and  innumerable  atrocities,  which  were 
inseparable  from  Iheir  very  existence.  Throughout  all  the 
protestant  countries,  since  the  reformation  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  male  and  female  Convents  have  been  abhorred,  not 
only  by  all  Christians,  but  by  every  wise  and  good  citizen. 
They  have  almost  disappeared  from  France,  and  in  Spain  they 
are  hastening  to  extinction ;  in  Portugal  they  have  been  de- 
stroyed ;  and  in  no  country  on  earth,  except  in  this  Federal 
Republic  and  the  British  dominions,  are  they  viewed  in  any 
other  aspect,  than  as  objects  of  detestation,  domicils  of  inor- 
dinate wickedness,  or  dungeons  of  unmitigable  despair. 

During  the  last  five  years,  many  ineffectual  attempts  have 
been  made  to  arrest  the  attention  of  American  Protestants 
to  the  true  character  and  pernicious  results  of  the  monkish 
life.  The  conflagration  of  the  Ursuline  Nunnery  at  Charles- 
town,  however,  has  elicited  a  regard  to  the  subject,  which  it 
is  proper  should  be  improved  ;  and  to  impress  and  enlighten 
the  public  mind,  no  mode  seemed  to  be  equally  adapted,  as  a 
selection  from  the  authentic  materials  of  which  the  ensuing 
work  is  composed.  The  testimony  is  unexceptionable  ;  being 
that  of  a  Roman  Catholic  Prelate,  who  was  commissioned  by 
a  Prince  subject  to  the  Papal  jurisdiction,  expressly  to  inves- 
tigate the  arcana  of  conventual  life  ;  and  it  was  compiled  by 


Vlll  INTRODUCTORY    ESSAY. 

a  Civilian  connected  with  the  Roman  hierarchy.  The  docu- 
ments, therefore,  cannot  be  objected  to  as  of  Protestant  origin ; 
because  every  fact  is  affirmed  upon  the  authority  of  the  Roman 
Prelate,  and  his  Papal  coadjutors,  or  of  his  deceitful  and  fero- 
cious persecutors. 

The  succeeding  narrative  illustrates  the  two  most  impress- 
ive topics  appertaining  to  popery,  which  American  citizens 
can  contemplate.  Very  little  reference  is  made  in  this  work 
to  the  theological  portions  of  Romanism.  Proselytes  to  Je- 
suitism are  not  collected  in  this  country  by  the  exhibition  of 
the  Popish  idolatrous  ritual,  or  the  blasphemy  of  the  Mass,  or 
the  absurdities  of  transubstantiation,  or  ludicrous  delineations 
of  purgatory,  or  the  obscenities  of  auricular  confession,  or 
the  usurped  claim  to  govern  conscience  and  to  pardon  sin,  or 
even  by  the  all  absorbing  assumption  of  infallibility.  The 
primary  allurement  is,  the  fraudulent  pretext  of  a  superior 
education,  to  be  obtained  through  their  instrumentality,  and 
the  crafty  adhesion  to  the  strongest  political  party,  which  may 
temporarily  gain  the  ascendency.  Thus  it  is  demonstrated, 
that  the  community  of  Papists  in  every  Protestant  country,  are 
a  distinct  and  isolated  body,  having  no  common  interests  with 
the  other  part  of  society  ;  and  always  prepared  to  seize  every 
opportunity  to  grasp  power,  and  extend  their  pestiferous  in- 
fluence. 

Scipio  de  Ricci,  from  whose  memoirs  the  subsequent  de- 
scription of  Nunneries  is  compiled,  has  also  unfolded  the 
unchangeable  turpitude  and  stupendous  artifices  which  now 
characterize  tlie  infernal  policy  of  the  Roman  Pontiffs  and 
their  court  of  Cardinals.  This  part  of  the  volume  is  of  equal 
importance  to  us,  as  his  developments  concerning  Monks  and 
Nuns.  By  the  most  undeniable  historical  details,  and  by  other 
authentic  documents,  pontifical  bulls,  decretals,  and  canons, 
the  fact  is  incontestable,  that  the  Popes  ever  have  claimed,  as 
Gregory  XVI.  the  reigning  •*  Man  of  Sin,"  does  now  arrogate 
to  wield  the  destinies  of  all  mankind,  upon  penalty  of  the 
greater  excommunication  for  rejection  of  his  iniquitous  au- 
thority, or  disobedience  to  his  accursed  mandates.  The  dis- 
cussions concerning  the  Bull  "  In  Ccena  Domini,''  and  the 
Decretals,  are  invaluable  expositions  of  the  inflexible  spirit 
which  guides  and  determines  all  the  measures  that  are  adopted 


INTRODUCTORY    ESSAY.  IX 

by  the  Roman  hierarchy.  They  testify  beyond  all  cavil,  that 
the  dissemination  of  Popish  principles,  and  the  fearful  increase 
of  Romanists  in  this  country,  endanger  the  whole  frame  of 
civil  society  ;  and  threaten,  unless  their  progress  be  efficiently 
arrested,  to  subvert  the  whole  fabric  of  the  rights  of  con- 
science, and  the  government  and  constitution  of  the  United 
States.  European  history,  and  the  annals  of  Canada,  Mexico, 
and  South  America,  attest,  that  Popery  in  power,  and  true 
freedom  as  it  is  understood  in  this  republic,  cannot  possibly 
exist  together.  The  present  volume  renders  that  state- 
ment morally  certain.  Our  grand  design  by  this  publication, 
however,  was  this  ;  to  unfold  the  principles,  character,  and 
doings  of  Female  Convents.  It  may  probably  be  objected, 
that  some  of  the  disclosures  which  the  Roman  Prelate  has 
made,  are  so  disgusting  that  they  ought  not  to  have  been  re- 
printed. In  ordinary  cases  the  plea  would  be  admissible — but 
in  reference  to  Popery  it  is  invalid.  A  destructive  incredulity 
exists  respecting  the  horrible  impurity  and  deadly  practices  of 
Nuns,  who  are  cloaked  under  various  bewitching  appellatives, 
and  decorated  in  meretricious  garbs  expressly  to  ensnare  and 
seduce  our  citizens.  That  mischievous  fascination,  it  is  essen- 
tial to  the  public  welfare,  as  well  as  to  the  security  of  the 
Christian  Churches,  to  unravel  and  expose  in  lucid  display. 
Leopold,  Prince  of  Tuscany,  merits  the  gratitude  of  the  whole 
civilized  world,  for  his  attempts  to  exterminate  the  Convents 
in  his  dominions ;  and  Scipio  de  Ricci,  the  Roman  Prelate 
who  endeavored  to  cleanse  those  *'  holds  of  every  foul  spirit," 
indescribably  more  filthy  than  even  the  fabulous  Augean  sta- 
ble, "being  dead,  yet  speaketh."  After  due  consultation 
with  the  most  competent  judges,  and  some  of  the  prominent 
champions  of  evangelical  truth,  in  the  present  *'  war  upon  the 
Beast ;"  it  was  resolved,  that  the  revolting  discoveries  which 
the  Bishop  of  Pistoia  and  Prato  made,  should  be  presented  to 
the  public  unmutilated  ;  with  anxious  solicitude  that  the  hide- 
ous pictures  of  Nuns  and  Nunneries  which  he  has  delineated, 
might  tend  to  the  exclusion  of  that  part  of  "  the  mystery  ot 
iniquity,"  from  this  nominally  Christian  republic. 

What,  therefore,  are  the  principal  instructions  which  we 
derive  from  the  researches  that  Scipio  de  Ricci  made  into  the 
secrets  of  the  Italian  Female  Convents  ?  and  what  arguments 


X  INTRODUCTORY  ESSAY. 

can  be  adduced  against  the  continuance  and  extension  of  the 
monastic  system  in  the  United  States  1 

It  is  irrelevant  now  to  review  the  origin  and  progress  of 
monachism  ;  nor  is  it  of  any  importance  to  inquire  into  the 
supposititious  benefits  and  certain  injuries,  which  in  former 
generations  Monasteries  and  Nunneries  are  alleged  to  have 
produced.  Our  investigation  applies  to  the  present  period, 
and  to  our  own  country  ;  and  in  this  aspect,  it  may  justly  be 
propounded  for  consideration,  whether  it  be  not  the  incumbent 
duty  of  the  legislatures  of  the  different  States  to  prohibit  those 
institutions  by  law  1 

The  perusal  of  the  ensuing  pages  fully  sanctions  four  general 
propositions,  either  of  which  is  amply  sufficient  to  justify  the 
utmost  repugnance  to  Popery,  which  Christianity  inculcates  ; 
and  all  of  which  combined  evidently  demand,  that  every  good 
citizen  should  strive  by  all  legitimate  methods,  to  stop  this 
enemy  which  cometh  in  like  a  flood  ;  and  that  every  sincere 
Christian  should  lift  up  the  standard  of  the  spirit  of  the  Lord 
against  him. 

I.  Nunneries  and  the  conventual  mode  of  life,  are  altogether 
contradictory  to  the  Divine  appointments  respecting  the 
order  of  nature,  and  the  constitution  of  mankind  and  human 
society. 

That  declaration  of  Jehovah,  which  constitutes  the  founda- 
tion of  all  human  existence,  and  especially  of  all  our  domestic 
ties  and  endearments,  is  coeval  with  the  creation  of  mankind  ; 
"  Ifc  is  not  good  that  the  man  should  be  alone."  In  his  allwise 
benevolence,  the  Lord  of  life  made  "  a  help  meet  for  him." 
The  law  of  Paradise  is  corroborated  by  the  express  mandate 
of  Christianity  ;  1  Corinthians,  vii.  2.  ;  "  let  every  man  have 
his  own  wife,  and  let  every  woman  have  her  own  husband." 
This  appointment  of  God,  and  this  recommendation  of  the 
gospel,  are  both  founded,  we  are  assured,  upon  the  same  prin- 
ciple, and  are  proposed  for  the  identical  result ;  "  to  avoid 
fornication." 

In  all  cases  whatever,  to  violate  these  laws  of  creation  and 
providence  which  are  manifestly  written  upon  man  and  his 
terrestrial  existence,  endangers  our  safety,  either  in  its  phy- 
sical, mental,  or  moral  relations.  That  the  monastic  system 
destroys  life,  entombs  the  intellect,  and  engenders  inordinate 


INTRODUCTORY  ESSAY.  XI 

corruption  of  the  most  direful  species,  is  a  fact  too  notorious 
now  to  require  proof. 

"  The  monastic  life  is  unnatural,  for  it  is  in  direct  opposition 
to  an  original  principle  of  the  human  mind,  by  which  our 
species  are  connected  among  themselves,  the  desire  of  society; 
and  the  professed  and  primary  object  of  monastic  institutions 
is  preposterous,  because  their  existence  is  one  continuous 
crime  against  God,  and  against  human  society,  increasing 
every  hour  in  magnitude  and  atrocity." 

"  Go,  teach  the  drone  of  ghostly  haunts, 
That  wastes  in  indolence  his  time, 
Though  superstitious  hymns  he  chants. 
His  life  is  one  continued  crime." 

The  monastic  system,  if  universally  adopted,  would  be 
general  suicide.  Not  merely  is  the  practice  opposed  because 
it  is  unnatural,  but  because  it  is  unjust  and  ruinous.  Respect- 
ing investigations  that  combine  the  very  existence  of  man- 
kind, we  have  no  concern  with  individual  exceptions,  and 
especially  in  cases  where  no  evidence  can  be  proffered  to  sus- 
tain the  alleged  singularity  ;  and  in  truth,  where  no  proof  can 
be  valid  against  the  original  appointment  of  God,  and  the 
essential  constitution  of  mankind.  To  all  arguments  which 
are  based  upon  the  exemplary  purity  of  the  voluntary  celibate 
life  of  men,  and  the  unavoidably  coerced  unmarried  state  of 
many  lovely  and  refined  women,  there  is  the  Divine  retort, 
**  it  is  not  good  that  the  man  should  be  alone."  There  is  uni-' 
versal  testimony  arising  from  the  constant  experience  of  the 
human  family,  that  a  life  of  celibacy  is  a  course  of  unceas- 
ing impurity  ;  and  there  are  historical  records  which  verify 
that  the  system  of  monachism  is  directly  at  war  with  all  the 
benevolent  designs  of  God,  and  with  all  the  essential  inter- 
ests of  mankind. 

The  original  constitution  of  human  relations,  as  appointed 
by  God,  also  determines  that  a  life  of  celibacy  is  a  course  of 
injustice.  No  man  either  has  a  right  to  live  unmarried,  or 
can  be  justified  for  his  palpable  infringement  of  the  Divine 
law  ;  and  consequently,  there  is  a  prior  argument  of  Divine 
authority  against  the  contrivance  of  Monks  and  Nuns  which 
no  negative  evidence  can  possibly  invalidate.     The  two  chief 


Xll  INTRODUCTORY  ESSAY. 

points  upon  which  reliance  is  placed  as  exoneration  of  the 
Roman  Priesthood,  and  their  cloistered  sisters,  from  the  charge 
of  sensuality,  are  most  perversely  alleged.  One  is,  their  se- 
clusion from  the  world  and  its  temptations  ;  and  the  other  is, 
their  abstinence,  fasting  and  macerations.  Although  it  could 
be  evinced,  that  both  those  principles  were  fully  carried  out, 
and  in  their  most  extensive  operation  ;  nevertheless,  the  fact 
would  not  be  demonstrated,  that  the  monastic  system  could 
control  that  attraction  between  the  sexes,  which  like  the  other 
animal  instincts,  is  indispensable  to  the  preservation  of  human 
life.  But  the  reverse  is  the  fact.  In  all  ordinary  cases,  no 
persons  live  more  luxuriously  than  the  Papal  Ecclesiastics, 
both  male  and  female  :  and  their  severance  from  the  world 
and  its  fascinations  is  more  nominal  than  real. 

That  the  abodes  of  Monks  and  Nuns  are  perfectly  unnatural ; 
and  as  the  unavoidable  tendency,  that  they  are  the  prolific 
sources  of  the  most  horrid  uncleanness,  the  ensuing  pages 
awfully  prove.  Without  a  constant  miracle,  they  could  not  be 
otherwise.  The  attachment  of  the  sexes  towards  each  other, 
is  indispensable  and  universal ;  without  it  the  race  of  man  in 
one  generation  would  be  extinct.  The  monastic  system  viti- 
ates all  the  social  affections,  and  incarcerates  man  in  a  cage 
of  selfishness,  and  circumscribes  all  his  affections  within  the 
restricted  limit  of  iiis  own  personal  gratifications.  Were  that 
unholy  device  to  attain  any  extension  and  protracted  supre- 
macy, the  moral  hemisphere  would  speedily  be  subverted,  and 
the  Gospel  of  Christ,  which  is  totally  opposed  to  all  the  monk- 
ish infatuation,  would  again  disappear  in  the  more  than  Egyp- 
tian darkness  that  would  overspread  the  world.  The  monastic 
system  necessarily  demands,  that  they  who  adopt  it,  should 
be  persons  deprived  of  every  capacity  for  general  usefulness, 
and  also  be  men  and  women  destitute  of  all  the  usual  sensi- 
bilities of  humanity.  Whatever  the  inmates  of  convents  may 
have  been  individually  ;  whether  an  occasional  Friar  may  have 
been  gifted  with  continency,  or  whether  some  Nun  or  novi- 
ciate, under  almost  unparalleled  circumstances,  may  have  re- 
sisted the  evils  of  the  confessor,  and  the  seductive  influence  of 
the  licentious  examples  continually  around  her,  is  of  no  im- 
portance in  deciding  this  question.  This  result  could  not 
uniformly  follow,  without  the  immediate  direct  interposition 


INTRODUCTORY  ESSAY.  Xlll 

of  the  "  Lord  of  all."  A  miraculous  intervention  of  the 
most  extraordinary  character,  and  in  comparison  with  which 
all  the  stupendous  works  of  Jesus,  the  "  Son  of  God,"  are 
profoundly  eclipsed,  must  ever  be  directed  in  the  choice,  im- 
pulse, and  restraint  of  a  few  individuals,  contrary  to  the  ex- 
press universal  and  immutable  appointments  of  God  at  crea- 
tion, and  the  divinely  constituted  arrangements  which  he  has 
made  for  the  increase  and  preservation  of  mankind,  and  the 
blessing  of  the  Church  and  the  world. 

II.  The  monastic  system  is  opposed  to  personal  piety,  know- 
ledge, purity,  and  usefulness,  and  invariably  tends  to  debase 
its  victims  in  ignorance,  sensuality,  crime  and  anguish.  It 
would  not  be  practicable  to  present  a  more  lucid  view  of  the 
character  of  Nunneries,  than  in  the  picture  drawn  of  them 
by  Mackray,  in  his  Essay  on  the  effect  of  the  reformation  upon 
civil  society.  Every  feature  of  the  hideous  and  appalling 
view  is  graphically  correct,  as  proved  by  the  more  recent  de- 
lineations of  Scipio  de  Ricci.     Appendix  A. 

It  would  be  superfluous  to  attempt  an  elaborate  proof  of 
the  proposition,  that  evangelical  piety  is  incompatible  with 
monastic  life.  What  might  be  the  effect  of  the  system  under 
any  possible  modifications,  it  is  irrelevant  to  inquire.  Un- 
varying testimony  assures  us  that  "  pure  religion  and  unde- 
filed,"  has  never  yet  been  exemplified  in  claustral  life.  Gloomy 
superstitious  forms,  and  sanctimonious  mummery  have  been 
practised  with  apparent  austerity  ;  but  communion  with  God, 
love  of  the  brethren,  practical  piety,  and  Christian  holiness, 
are  profound  strangers  to  the  monastic  system.  In  truth,  the 
celibate  life,  which  is  its  primary  and  cardinal  ingredient, 
extirpates  all  that  is  pure  and  good.  Of  this  fact,  the  two 
English  Universities  are  a  remarkable  demonstration.  In 
those  splendid  endowments,  it  is  required  that  the  "  fellows," 
as  they  are  called  of  the  Colleges,  shall  be  unmarried  men. 
The  consequence  is  this,  that  probably  Oxford  and  Cambridge 
embody  more  notorious  and  inordinate  dissoluteness,  than  any 
other  towns  in  Britain.  This  is  the  legitimate  result  of  re- 
taining, as  is  still  done  in  England,  so  large  a  portion  of  the 
antiquated  usages  and  popish  corruptions  of  the  dark  ages. 

The  boasts  which  are  so  often  made  of  the  learning  of  an- 
terior generations  under  the  papal  supremacy  ;  and  the  lamen- 
2 


XIV  INTRODUCTORY  ESSAY. 

tations  that  have  been  offered  over  the  supposed  literary  losses 
to  the  world,  by  the  demolition  of  the  monasteries,  are  merely 
idle  affectation.  The  author  already  quoted  has  supplied  us 
vi^ith  an  illustration  upon  this  topic  not  less  instructive  than 
convincing.     Appendix  B. 

Of  all  the  drones  who  ever  infested  the  world,  none  surpass 
in  perfect  uselessness,  and  its  inseparable  attendants,  vice  and 
misery,  the  inhabitants  of  convents.  Indolence  is  their  best 
characteristic.  Incarcerated  in  a  gloomy  mansion,  with  no 
duties  to  fulfil,  no  motives  to  activity,  no  sympathy  or  re- 
lationship for  the  exterior  world,  and  no  anxiety  for  its  im- 
provement, or  feeling  for  its  desolations,  of  what  value  are 
those  excrescences  upon  society? 

"  In  shirt  of  hair,  and  weeds  of  canvass  dress'd, 
Girt  with  a  bell-rope  that  the  Pope  has  bless'd  ; 
Wearing-  out  life  in  his  pernicious  whim, 
Till  his  mischievous  whimsy  wears  out  him." 

No  man  has  a  right  to  absolve  himself  from  all  the  duties 
which  he  owes  to  the  world.  No  woman  can  be  justified  for 
abandoning  all  the  obligations  which  she  owes  to  society.  No 
Christian,  thi^refore,  possibly  can  be  a  Friar  or  a  Nun. 

III.  Monachism  directly  counteracts  the  progress  of  intelli- 
gence, civil  and  religious  freedom,  commercial  prosperity,  and 
national  improvement.  It  is  the  peculiar  property  of  Ro- 
manism to  defile  and  curse  every  thing  with  which  it  comes  into 
contact :  and  if  there  be  any  part  of  that  "  working  of  Satan," 
called  Popery,  which  possesses  more  deleterious  qualities  than 
the  rest  of"  the  mystery  of  iniquity,"  it  is  the  monastic  sys- 
tem. An  irresistible  argument  might  be  framed  from  the 
spirit  of  monkish  institutions,  which  would  demonstrate  that 
they  must  deteriorate  the  human  character,  and  obstruct  all 
the  stable  interests  of  the  body  politic.  Every  incentive  to 
progress  under  its  mischievous  influence  is  extirpated.  In 
former  ages,  when  the  edifices  devoted  to  Friars  and  Nuns 
were  found  in  every  district  of  the  European  nations,  what 
was  their  character,  and  what  was  the  result  of  their  establish- 
ment ?  Universal  barbarism,  penury,  wretchedness,  and 
crime.  All  the  annals  of  the  thousand  years  prior  to  the  Re- 
formation, bear  the  same  decisive  and  unequivocal  testimony 


INTRODUCTORY    ESSAY  XV 

to  the  benighted,  and  impoverished,  and  degraded  condition 
of  the  then  existing  people.  Could  it  possibly  be  otherwise"? 
All  the  impulses  to  enterprise  and  personal  and  social  eleva- 
tion, under  the  government  of  the  Papacy,  and  especially 
within  the  cloistered  battlements,  are  utterly  unknown.  Any 
other  knowledge  than  that  which  can  be  made  subservient  to 
priestly  aggrandizement,  is  pronounced  accursed  ;  and  subjects 
the  possessor  of  it  to  imprisonment,  torture,  and  death.  Pro- 
bably the  dark  dungeons  of  Popery  scarcely  unfold  a  more 
demonstrative  proof,  that  hostility  to  science  was  not  the  error 
of  one  age,  but  that  it  is  the  crime  of  the  Papal  system,  than 
the  history  of  Galileo.  His  experience  is  undeniable  evidence 
that  an  inveterate  and  perpetual  warfare  is  waged  by  the  Pon- 
tifical Court,  not  against  pure  religion  only,  but  also  against 
true  philosophy  and  the  noblest  science. 

'*  Galileo  had  become  a  convert  to  the  Copernican  astrono- 
my ;  and,  by  a  succession  of  most  splendid  discoveries,  had 
demonstrated  the  motion  of  the  earth  around  the  sun.  The 
ignorant  Pope  and  besotted  Cardinals,  and  the  ferocious  Inqui- 
sitors, accused  that  dignified  philosopher  and  the  greatest 
scientific  scholar  of  his  age,  of  the  crime  of  heresy  ;  and  Gali- 
leo  was  cast  into  a  dungeon  of  the  Inquisition.  His  sublime 
knowledge  was  condemned  by  priestly  bigots,  all  whose  intelli- 
gence was  restricted  to  the  most  voluptuous  mode  of  gratify- 
ing their  inordinate  sensual  appetites,  and  who  were  too 
grovelling  and  carnal  minded  to  comprehend  his  lofty  specula- 
tions and  etherial  soarings  ;  and  to  that  superlative  astronomer 
was  presented  the  alternative,  either  to  deny  self-evident 
mathematical  propositions,  or  to  be  burnt  as  a  heretic.  At 
seventy  years  of  age,  on  his  knees,  and  with  his  hand  on  the 
Gospels,  he  condemned,  abjured  and  cursed  his  own  infallible 
opinions,  and  swore  before  the  infamous  Inquisitors,  that  he 
would  never  more  hold  or  assert  in  word  or  writing  the  doc- 
trines which  he  had  demonstrated,  that  the  sun  is  the  center  of 
the  solar  system,  and  that  the  earth  moves.  From  that  day 
he  never  afterwards  either  wrote  or  talked  upon  the  subject  of 
astronomy." 

What  is  the  Index  Expurgatorius,  but  a  pontifical  law, 
which  dooms  the  whole  dominions  over  which  the  Pope's 
jurisdiction  extends  to  Egyptian  darkness  ?    All  books,  in  every 


XVI  INTRODUCTORY    ESSAY. 

department  of  literature,  theological,  scientific,  historical,  and 
upon  the  ornamental  arts,  unless  they  directly  or  indirectly  aid 
the  despotic  claims  of  the  Roman  Court,  are  condemned  to  be 
burnt.  The  catalogue  begins  with  the  Holy  Bible,  and  includes 
almost  every  genuine  book  which  is  truly  worthy  of  perusal, 
either  ancient  or  modern.  That  prohibition  of  books  is  most 
sedulously  complied  with  in  all  convents  ;  and  the  explorations 
of  Scipio  de  Ricci  among  the  monasteries  and  priesthood  of 
Tuscany,  convince  us  that  the  boasted  literary  lore  of  Jesuit 
seminaries,  and  Ursuline  convents,  must  necessarily  be  an  im- 
posture ;  because  all  the  means  of  their  attaining  knowledge 
are  most  sedulously  and  authoritatively,  by  the  Pope  and  his 
prelates,  and  equally  by  the  voluntary  design  of  the  monastics, 
totally  excluded. 

Popery  decrees  that  "  ignorance  is  the  mother  of  devotion  ;" 
and,  of  course,  of  every  good  quality — but  Protestantism  pro- 
claims, that  "  knowledge  is  power."  The  monastic  system  is 
destructive  of  illumination,  and  consequently  of  liberty.  Des- 
potism, of  the  most  abhorrent  attributes,  is  both  the  very  main- 
spring and  aliment  of  conventual  life.  It  gilds  the  cross  which 
surmounts  the  principal  turret, — it  is  the  steam-pump  by 
which,  at  auricular  confession,  every  secret  of  the  heart  is 
evolved,  and  it  is  the  iron  key  which  locks  up  in  impenetrable 
darkness  the  doleful  mysteries  of  those  dungeons  of  despair. 
The  tyranny  of  the  convent  extends  to  every  spiritual  emotion, 
as  well  as  to  the  language,  features,  demeanor  and  conduct ; 
and  they  must  be  moulded  according  to  the  imperious  dictates 
of  the  superior  and  the  chaplain. 

All  this  is  irreconcilable  with  freedom  ;  and  it  is  an  indis- 
putable fact,  that  girls  and  boys,  in  this  country,  who  have 
been  trained  up  in  a  convent  or  monastery,  unless  the  grace  of 
God  very  powerfully  operates  upon  them,  exemplify  the 
prominent  features  of  the  monastic  system.  Many  persons 
now  well  known  in  society,  exhibit  such  extraordinary  varie- 
ties, that  their  companions  realize  great  difficulty  in  attempt- 
ing to  unravel  their  complex  characters.  They  are  blustering 
and  servile — apparently  candid,  and  yet  profoundly  deceitful- — 
they  mingle  the  fawning  of  a  parasite  with  the  stubbornness  of 
a  .Tmle — and  can  assume  so  many  forms,  that  no  man  can 
place  any  reliance  scarcely  upon  their  personal  identity.     It  is 


INTRODUCTORY    ESSAY.  XVll 

the  natural  effect  of  a  monastic  education.  They  were  in  the 
basest  bondage,  and  cannot  shake  off  its  habits  ;  they  are  in 
freedom,  and  know  not  how  to  improve  it.  That  system  which 
thus  necessarily  despoils  citizens  of  their  best  qualities,  ought 
to  be  execrated  :  for  it  is  evident,  that  if  extended  so  as  to 
predominate  throughout  our  country,  all  genuine  freedom 
would  be  extinct. 

The  superiority  of  Protestantism  to  Popery,  in  reference  to 
mercantile  enterprise,  is  so  palpable  that  it  requires  neither 
illustration  nor  proofs.     The  wisdom  of  divine  Pro*^idence  is 
remarkably  illustrated  in  the  close  connection  which,  in  point 
of  time,  exists  between  the  three  grand  events  which  have  been 
the  instruments,  in  the  dispensations  of  the  merciful  Jehovah, 
in  some  measure  to  renovate  the  world  :  and  the  order  of  their 
occurrence  was  not  less  admirably  planned,  than  the  stupen- 
dous results  which  have  flowed  from  them.     The  art  of  print- 
ing rendered  universal  the  principles  of  nautical  science  ;  the 
discovery  of  Columbus  opened  a  way  for  adventurous  spirits  to 
realize    the    dignity   of   emancipation   from    the    Pontifical 
shackles,  by  a  removal  where  the  thunders  of  the  Vatican  did 
not   reverberate ;    and    Luther,    Zuingle,    Calvin,  Knox    and 
Cranmer,  broke  to  atoms  the  extinguishers  which  had  so  long 
concealed  the  true  light,  and  liberated  man  soon  commenced 
to  traverse  all  latitudes  and  longitudes  in  search  of  knowledge 
and  in  quest  of  opulence.     The  contrast  only  between  Protes- 
tant and  Papal  countries  during  the  last  250  years,  discloses  a 
testimony  against  convents,  which  it  is  impossible  to  gainsay. 
Monks  and  Nuns  in  no  form  participate  in  the  active  duties 
which  cultivate  those  products  that  are  wafted  into  all  lands, 
and  from  which,  in  return,  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of  life 
are    obtained.     Hence  it  follows,  that   the    indolent  life    of 
Monks   and  Nuns  is  a  barrier  to  all  national  improvement. 
The  existing  deplorable  state  of  Tuscany,  as  portrayed  in  the 
ensuing  pages,  was,  three  hundred  years  ago,  the  state  of  all 
Europe.    The  swarms  of  Friars,  and  their  cloistered  paramours, 
consumed  the  vitals  of  every  land.     Their  example  encouraged 
sloth  among  all  orders  of  the  people.     Poverty,  wretchedness, 
debasement,  and  pillage  characterized  the  whole  community. 
It  was  either  a  gorgeous  display  of  barbaric  magnificence,  by 
the  feudal  lord  of  the  district,  or  the  most  appalling  dependence 
2* 


XVIU  INTRODUCTORY    ESSAY. 

and  necessity.  The  history  of  every  country  which  has  ever 
been  cursed  by  the  Papal  predominance,  and  especially  the 
present  condition  of  those  who  have  been  emancipated  from 
its  thraldom,  when  contrasted  with  their  anterior  state,  veri- 
fies, that,  to  indulge  any  expectation  of  general  benefit  from 
the  monastic  system  and  from  the  predominance  of  Popery,  is 
just  as  wise  as  to  attempt  to  "  gather  figs  from  thistles,  and 
grapes  from  thorns." 

IV.  The  monastic  system  nullifies  all  the  requirements  of 
the  Christian  religion.  Its  duties  are  prohibited,  its  consola- 
tions intercepted,  and  by  the  operation  of  monachism,  the 
exertions  of  gospel  philanthropy  are  abrogated,  and  the  uni- 
versal diffusion  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  which  is  righteous- 
ness, and  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  is  totally  impeded. 

It  may  probably  be  objected  to  this  allegation,  that  the 
Monks  of  former  ages  were  the  persons  by  whom  the  Roman 
Court  enlarged  the  pontifical  sway.  The  fact  is  admitted,  and 
it  redounds  still  more  to  the  disgrace  of  Popery  and  the  Friars, 
that  instead  of  propagating^the  glorious  Gospel,  they  only  sub- 
stituted their  own  more  refined  idolatry  and  superstitions  for 
the  offensive  abominations  of  Paganism.  But  transfer  men 
and  women  to  the  cells  of  the  convent,  its  sloth  and  secrecy, " 
its  constant  mummeries  and  restless  anxieties  for  freedom 
and  enjoyment,  its  insatiable  longings,  and  its  constant  iden- 
tity of  voluptuous  and  unsatisfying  indulgence  :  and  would 
you  look  for  evangelical  missionaries  in  those  dens  of  igno- 
rance, sloth,  and  corruption  ) 

All  the  monasteries  on  earth  could  not  produce  a  Brainerd, 
a  Svvartz,  a  Vanderkemp,  or  a  Martyn,  with  the  rest  of  the 
glorified  servants  of  Christ,  exclusive  of  the  living  laborers  in 
the  vineyard  of  the  Lord.  Neither  idiotism  nor  lunacy  would 
dream  of  going  into  a  convent  to  procure  the  counterparts  of 
Anne  Chater,  Harriet  Newell,  Anne  Judson,  and  the  other 
intrepid  and  devoted  women,  who  will  live  in  everlasting  re- 
membrance when  the  monastic  system,  with  "  the  beast  and 
the  false  prophet,  shall  be  consumed  in  the  lake  of  fire,  burn- 
ing with  brimstone." 

When  the  monkish  system  commenced,  it  was  merely  a 
flight  into  the  desert,  ancHf  temporary  abode  in  solitude,  until 
the  infernal  storm  of  malignant  persecution  had  dissipated  its 


INTRODUCTORY    ESSAY.  XtX 

fury.  The  crafty  "  Man  of  Sin  "  speedily  perceived,  that  the 
monastic  life  and  vows  might  easily  be  transformed  into  an 
irresistible  machine  to  support  his  usurped  despotism.  Erro- 
neous opinions  respecting  the  superior  sanctity  of  the  celibate 
life,  and  infatuated  whims  concerning  the  refining  spirituality 
of  years  devoted  to  contemplation,  enlarged  the  number  of 
Monks  ;  until  their  independence  of  the  Prelates  permitted 
them  to  pass  their  time  in  one  continuous  scene  of  sensual 
indulgence.  Notwithstanding  all  the  indescribable  corruption 
which  characterized  the  Convents  of  Friars,  and  the  Nun- 
neries, they  maintained  their  ascendancy  over  the  benighted 
and  superstitious  multitude.  When  we  remember  the  pro- 
found ignorance,  even  of  all  the  residents  in  the  monastic 
edifices,  we  cannot  feel  surprise,  although  we  must  abhor  their 
delusions  and  iniquity,  that  persons  who  were  given  over  to 
"  strong  delusion,"  and  who  commingled  all  that  was  good 
on  earth  with  tlie  Pope's  passport  to  heaven,  should  have 
yielded  themselves  to  the  support  of  a  pretended,  imposing, 
gaudy  ceremonial,  which  allows  every  vicious  indulgence  for 
money,  and  which  guaranteed  an  admission  into  Paradise  to 
all  who  can  purchase  the  title,  sealed  by  the  Pontiff  of  Rome. 

But  the  monastic  system  in  modern  times,  and  especially 
in  the  United  States,  in  its  essentially  deceptive  character, 
appears  masked  under  the  name  and  in  the  garb  of  literary 
institutions.  In  all  those  parts  of  Europe  w^here  the  astound- 
ing wickedness  of  the  male  and  female  convents  was  divulged, 
it  was  impossible  to  protract  their  duration  ;  their  mexpressi- 
bly  flagrant  dissoluteness  rendered  it  absolutely  impracticable, 
either  to  extenuate  their  turpitude,  or  prolong  their  existence. 

But  as  the  number  of  persons  devoted  to  celibacy,  severed 
from  the  world,  and  in  inalienable  alliance  with  the  Pope,  is  of 
vast  solicitude  to  the  Roman  Court,  the  Pontiffs  of  the  sixteenth 
century  permitted  the  priests  and  their  sisters,  whose  crimes 
were  so  odious  that  he  dared  not  pardon  them,  and  yet  whose 
ungodly  services  were  so  valuable,  that  he  could  not  dispense 
with  them,  to  imbody  themselves  under  a  new  and  unsuspi- 
cious title.  Thus  many  of  the  unprincipled  mendicant  Friars 
became  Jesuits,  and  the  most  wicked  Nuns  were  embodied 
under  the  name  of  Saint  Ursula.  The  two  orders  are  brother 
and   sister.      They  are  governed   by  the  same  principles — 


INRTRODUCrORY    ESSAY. 


ostensibly  pursue  the  same  object — the  education  of  youth. 
Always,  however,  professing  great  solicitude  to  teach  Protest- 
ant children,  but  exhibiting  no  regard  for  the  benighted  and 
perishing  souls  of  the  Papists  ;  and  they  have  ever  exempli- 
fied an  artifice  which  certifies,  that  with  "  cunning  craftiness 
they  lie  in  wait  to  deceive." 

But  the  grand  inquiry  is  this — Are  the  spirit,  principles,  and 
practices  of  the  monastic  orders  changed  in  modern  times  1 
The  answer  may  be  found  in  the  following  portraiture  of  Tus- 
can convents.  It  is  the  perennial  boast  of  all  Romanists, 
both  ecclesiastical  and  their  disciples,  that  Popery  is  identical, 
and  what  it  ever  was,  it  is  now,  and  always  will  be.  This 
fact  all  history  certifies  ;  consequently,  Popery  in  the  United 
States,  in  the  nineteenth  century,  is  the  same  as  it  was  in 
Britain  three  hundred  years  since.  But  the  Monks  and  Nuns 
are  the  staff"  of  the  Roman  Court;  and  therefore,  under  what- 
ever vizors  concealed,  or  by  whatever  name  disguised,  they 
are  now  the  counterparts  of  their  ancient  atrocious  predeces- 
sors. 

The  monastic  system  comprises  a  total  paralysis  of  all 
Christian  good,  in  devotion,  zeal  and  morals;  and  substitutes 
childish  superstitions,  with  the  most  debasing  sloth  and  vice. 
But  probably  the  worst  effect  of  conventual  institutions  is 
the  profoundly  artificial  character  which  they  invariably  pro- 
duce and  nurture.  Jesuitical  dissimulation  is  an  inseparable 
associate  of  the  monkish  life.  Deception  fills  the  unholy  edi- 
fice from  the  foundation  to  the  capstone  ;  it  is  the  air  which 
Monks  and  Nuns  breathe,  and  the  highly  seasoned  sauce  which 
gives  a  relish  to  all  their  food,  and  by  the  operation  of  which 
their  other  privations  are  rendered  tolerable.  The  ensuing 
details  of  the  researches  made  by  Scipio  de  Ricci  demonstrate 
the  truth  of  an  inference,  which  in  its  application  is  most 
startling,  that  an  inmate  of  a  monastery  or  nunnery  cannot 
retain  the  predominance  of  Christian  principles  and  integrity. 
With  the  very  few  exceptions  of  those  who  have  since  be- 
come the  subjects  of  redeeming  grace,  it  is  undeniable,  that 
nearly  all  the  young  men  in  our  country  who  have  been  trained 
up  in  the  Jesuit  Colleges,  are  either  avowed  or  secret  infidels, 
and  not  less  licentious  in  practice  than  irreligious  in  princi- 
ple.    There  is  not  an  instance  to  be  found,  unless  those  in- 


INTRODUCTORY  ESSAY.  XXI 

eluded  in  that  exception,  even  among  the  women,  which  is  not 
conformable  to  the  above  statement.  Every  girl  who  has  been 
educated  in  an  American  nunnery  has  departed  from  it — either 
a  determined  sceptic,  or  a  hardened  opponent  of  all  religion, 
or  a  disguised  and  dispensed  Papist ;  and  assuredly  with  every 
refined  feminine  sensibility  destroyed,  and  most  probably 
deeply  versed  in  all  those  artifices  that  she  has  learned  from  the 
Jesuit  confessor,  by  which  she  can  deceive  every  person,  and 
elude  all  discovery  of  her  genuine  character  and  secret  dissi- 
pation. 

The  hypocrisy  which  is  stamped  upon  all  the  Jesuit  Con- 
vents, whether  superintended  by  Roman  Priests  or  their  Ursu- 
line  sisters,  is  so  undisguised,  that  it  is  astonishing  our  citizens 
do  not  indignantly  repel  the  daring  imposture.  Those  wily 
craftsmen,  and  their  priestesses,  proclaim  that  their  sole  object 
is  to  educate  youth  in  a  superior  manner;  and  they  boast  of 
their  extraordinary  qualifications  for  that  object.  But  the 
solemn  inquiries  may  be  propounded — why  are  those  Priests 
and  Nuns  so  anxious  to  teach  Protestant  chiidren  only  ]  Why 
will  they  not  receive  them  after  they  have  passed  the  years 
of  mere  juvenility  ?  Why  do  they  maintain  all  the  strictest 
regulations  of  the  ancient  orders,  whose  very  crimes  were 
produced  and  perpetuated  by  the  operation  of  those  rules  and 
customs  ]  To  these  questions  should  be  added  the  conside- 
ration, that  Protestants  have  erected  a  system  of  education 
in  almost  all  parts  of  our  republic  ;  and  although  in  many  re- 
spects imperfect,  yet  the  elementary  principles  of  knowledge 
can  every  where  be  obtained  ;  while  in  many  of  our  colleges, 
a  course  of  literature  is  studied  co-extensive  with  the  acquire- 
ments of  any  similar  foreign  institution,  and  as  far  superior 
to  all  that  any  Jesuit  seminary  imparts,  as  the  difference  be- 
tween the  oratory  of  George  Whitefield,  and  the  song  of  a 
Roman  Priest,  chanting  a  mass  for  a  soul  in  purgatory.  Pro- 
testant female  institutions  also  arc  dispersed  throughout  our 
country,  between  which,  for  the  purpose  of  literary  tuition, 
and  especially  in  point  of  Christian  morals,  and  the  nunneries 
established  by  the  sister  Jesuits,  there  is  no  more  likeness 
than  there  is  similitude  between  Hannah  More,  and  the  su- 
perior of  the  Ursuline  community  at  Charlestown. 

Now  it   is  certain,  that  a  very  large  and  disproportionate 


XXll  INTRODUCTORY  ESSAY. 

mass  of  ignorance,  and  its  consequent  immorality  and  debase- 
ment, is  found  among  the  Papists.  Very  few  of  them,  com- 
paratively, can  read  or  write  ;  and  it  is  still  more  deplorable, 
although  consistently  mischievous,  that  the  Roman  Priests 
will  not  permit  the  popish  youth  to  attend  the  schools  of  the 
"  cursed  heretics,"  as  they  den(5minate  the  Protestants. 
Why,  therefore,  if  they  are  so  extremely  benevolent  and  phi- 
lanthropic as  they  profess,  do  not  the  Jesuits  and  the  Ursu- 
lines  dedicate  their  labor  to  the  melioration  of  the  moral  cha- 
racter, and  the  improvement  of  the  mental  condition  of  the 
hundred  thousand  children  of  their  own  society,  who  are 
growing  up  to  maturity,  groping  in  darkness,  and  untamed  as 
a  wild  ass's  colt  ] 

The  only  answer  to  this  question  is  this — that  the  sole 
object  of  all  the  monastic  institutions  in  America,  is  merely 
to  proselyte  youth  of  the  influential  classes  in  society,  and 
especially  females  ;  as  the  Roman  Priests  are  conscious  that 
by  this  means  they  shall  silently  but  effectually  attain  the 
control  of  public  affairs.  No  girl  long  attends  auricular  con- 
fession, either  to  the  superior  of  the  Nunnery  or  the  Chaplain, 
before  she  is  lost.  Her  will  is  subdued.  She  has  surrendered 
herself  to  the  control  and  implicit  direction  of  two  unspeaka- 
bly artful  profligates,  who  have  her  reputation  entirely  at  their 
disposal — and  the  declaration  of  Flavia  Peraccini,  Prioress  of 
the  convent  at  Pistoia,  page  92,  of  this  volume,  may  be  in- 
fallibly affirmed  of  every  one  of  them.  The  confessors  "  de- 
ceive theinnocent,  and  even  tJiose  that  aremost  circumspect ; 
and  it  would  need  a  miracle  to  converse  with  them  and  not 

to  fall  r 

With  this  knowledge  of  Monks  and  Nuns,  and  the  official 
testimony  of  a  prince  and  prelate,  both  subject  to  the  Roman 
court,  as  narrated  in  this  work,  the  appeal  must  solemnly  be 
made  to  all  Protestants — Can  you  justify  before  God  and 
your  country,  your  patronage  of  monastic  institutions  1  Do 
you  not  endanger  the  virtue  and  usefulness  of  your  children 
in  this  world,  and  also  jeopard  their  everlasting  welfare,  by 
transferring  your  sons,  and  especially  your  daughters,  to  the 
management  of  Jesuit  Priests  and  Ursuline  Nuns?  From 
their  primary  organization  about  three  hundred  years  ago, 
when  they  embodied  the  very  refuse  of  the  ancient  orders. 


INTRODUCTORY  ESSAY.  XXIU 

whose  habitually  nefarious  course,  the  Papacy  itself,  which 
emphatically  lieth  in  wickedness,  would  no  longer  tolerate; 
those  Roman  ecclesiastics,  the  Jesuits,  and  their  Ursuline 
sisters,  have  been  uniformly  the  most  loathsome  examples  of 
unnatural  licentiousness,  whose  vitiosity  is  recorded  in  the 
annals  of  mankind. 

To  all  such  blinded  or  deluded  Protestant  parents,  may 
aptly  be  applied  the  pungent  mandate  and  expostulation,  2 
Corinthians,  vi.  14 — 18.  "  Be  ye  not  unequally  yoked  together 
with  unbelievers  :  for  what  fellowship  hath  righteousness  with 
unrighteousness  ]"  Therefore,  hear  the  voice  from  heaven, 
which  says,  "  Come  out  of  Babylon,  that  ye  be  not  partakers 
of  her  sins,  and  that  ye  receive  not  of  her  plagues." 

The  ensuing  portraiture  of  Jesuit  monasteries,  and  the 
Roman  priesthood,  and  the  pontifical  hierarchy,  and  of  female 
convents  and  nuns,  is  recommended  to  all  those  who  are  anx- 
ious to  comprehend  the  genuine  character  and  the  uniform 
and  universal  practices  of  those  institutions.  Here  are  no 
high-wrought  romantic  fictions,  no  eloquent  imaginative  tales 
worked  up  forefFect, and  naught  "set  down  in  malice,"  byinimi- 
cal  Protestants.  The  ensuing  pages  comprise  grave  and  una- 
dorned testimony,  furnished  by  a  Popish  prelate  and  his  breth- 
ren, acting  officially  by  the  authority  of  a  prince,  subordinate 
to  the  Roman  court ;  and  narratives  prepared  by  the  nuns 
themselves  ;  consequently,  as  the  evidence  cannot  be  impugn- 
ed, the  description  of  ancient  Judah  and  Jerusalem,  by  the 
prophet,  may  be  correctly  applied  to  the  entire  monastic  sys- 
tem. Isaiah,  i.  4,  5,  6.  "  Ah  !  people  laden  with  iniquity,  a 
seed  of  evil  doers,  children  that  are  corrupters  !  From  the 
sole  of  the  foot  even  unto  the  head,  there  is  no  soundness  in 
it,  but  wounds  and  bruises  and  putrifying  sores." 

From  this  pestilential  curse,  may  the  God  of  mercy  deliver 
our  republic,  and  the  American  Churches  ! 

New  York,  10th  October,  1834. 


I 


SECRETS 


FEMALE    CONVENTS 

DIS  CLOSED. 


CHAPTER    I 


Scipio  de  Ricci  studies  among-  the  Jesuits.— His  Renunciation  of  the 
Principles  of  that  Society. — His  Ordination  as  Priest.— He  inherits  the 
Property  of  the  last  General  of  the  Jesuits.— Suppression  of  the  Order 
and  Confinement  of  the  Ex-General  at  Rome.— Death  of  Pope 
Gang-anelli.— Narrative  proving-  that  Pope  to  have  been  poisoned. 

Scipio  de  Ricci  was  bom  in  Florence  on  the  9th  of 
January,  1741.  He  was  the  third  son  of  the  senator 
president,  Peter  Francis  de  Ricci,  and  of  Maria  Louisa, 
daughter  of  Bettina  Ricasoli,  baron  of  La  Trappola, 
and  captain  of  the  Swiss  guard  in  the  service  of  the 
Duke  of  Tuscany. 

His  family,  one  of  the  most  ancient  and  distinguish- 
ed in  Tuscany,  was  not  at  that  time  in  favor  with  the 
House  of  Lorraine,  who  had  been  but  recently  seated 
on  the  Grand  Dacal  throne.  His  grandfather  had 
professed  republican  principles,  and  his  uncle  had 
taken  the  side  of  the  Bourbons  against  the  House  of 
Austria.  They  were  too  proud  to  seek  for  court  favor 
under  these  circumstances,  and  looked  for  preferment 
to  other  quarters.  Young  Ricci,  Avho  had  lost  his 
father,  was  therefore  sent  by  his  uncles  to  Rome,  at 
the  age  of  fifteen ;  and,  in  spite  of  the  protestations 
of  his  mother,  and  of  the  priest  who  had  hitherto 
directed  his  studies,  a  man  in  his  principles  of  religion 


2G  SECRETS    OF 

and  morality  strongly  opposed  to  Jesuitism,  he  was  put 
under  the  care  of  the  Jesuits. 

Catholic  Europe  was  at  that  time  occupied  with  the 
quarrels  of  that  too  famous  body.  Its  insatiable  ambi- 
tion, its  immense  riches,  its  terrifying  power,  the  infor- 
mation diffused  among  its  members,  the  great  men  of 
all  kinds  which  it  had  produced  and  was  every  day 
producing,  its  doctrines  subversive  of  the  independence 
of  governments  and  the  morality  of  the  people, — all 
these  characteristics  had  divided  the  Roman  com- 
munion into  obstinate  partisans  of  its  system  and  its 
existence,  already  attacked  on  all  sides,  and  into 
adversaries  who  thought  only  of  its  destruction.  Scipio 
de  Ricci  had  been  bred  in  the  very  bosom  of  the  order 
and  by  its  members,  and  he  had  been  initiated  in  their 
maxims,  of  which  he  knew  the  very  smallest  details  ; 
but  he  was  surrounded  on  the  other  side  by  the  many 
antagonists  which  it  had  raised  even  in  the  metropolis 
of  Catholicism.  It  was  not  long  before  he  ranged 
himself  among  the  most  zealous  and  enlightened  of 
those  who  hastened,  with  all  their  efforts  and  all  their 
wishes,  to  promote  the  dissolution  of  this  formidable 
society  ;  and  who  never  ceased  to  pursue  its  remains, 
and  mark  out  its  spirit,  as  often  as  they  thought  there 
was  any  danger  of  a  revival  of  the  evil  which  it  had 
caused  to  the  great  Christian  community. 

Ricci  was  superstitious.  While  he  was  among  the 
Jesuits,  a  tumor,  which  resisted  all  the  remedies  of  art, 
appeared  upon  his  knee.  An  amputation  was  decided 
upon ;  when, as  he  informs  us,  he  applied  with  fervor  and 
constancy  to  the  diseased  part  an  image,  representing 
the  venerable  Hyppolito  Galantina,  one  of  the  brothers, 
called  Bachettoni,  and  he  was  completel  y  cured.  Strange 
contradiction  in  the  human  mind  !  that  such  ideas 
should  co-exist  in  the  same  head  with  the  rational, 
true,  and  solid  principles,  which  made  Ricci  afterwards, 
to  a  certain  extent,  a  religious  reformer,  a  wise  citizen, 
a  zealous  patriot,  and  a  friend  of  the  arts,  literature, 
and  humanity. 

In  the  house  of  the  Canon  Bottari,  who  was  regard- 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  25 

ed  by  the  Jesuits  as  the  chief  of  those  who  were 
accused  of  Jansenism,  this  miracle  took  place.  The 
Canon  made  his  own  use  of  it ;  and  his  conversation 
and  that  of  the  persons  who  frequented  his  house, 
cured  Ricci  of  the  ideas  he  had  formed  concerning  the 
sanctity  and  doctrine,  which  he  confesses  up  to  that 
time  he  had  allowed  in  the  highest  degree,  and  almost 
exclusively  to  the  Jesuits. 

What  he  learned  among  these  fathers  did  not  tend 
less  to  prepare  him  for  the  aversion  he  was  doomed 
to  ieel  for  them  hereafter,  than  what  he  had  heard 
from  their  adversaries.  The  Irish  Jesuit  who  was 
charged  with  teaching  him  the  precious  art  of  reason- 
ing, taught  him  nothing  but  a  sophistical  and  captious 
logic — the  sole  end  of  which  was  "  among  a  thousand 
useless  questions  and  logomachies  without  number,  to 
take  for  granted  in  all  their  extent,  and  in  all  the  clear- 
ness of  which  they  were  susceptible,  the  fundamental 
principles  of  molinisni  and  cotigridsm^  by  means  of 
the  ideas  of  the  ?7iedial  science  ;  that  is,  of  the  means 
by  which  God  sees  conditional  futures.'^  It  would 
be  useless  to  explain  this  jargon.  In  the  middle  of 
his  course  he  took  a  fancy  to  become  a  Jesuit,  and 
consulted  his  family  on  the  subject.  He  embraced  the 
idea  in  order  to  prepare  himself  for  a  place  in  the  other 
world,  beheving  that  this  had  been  promised  in  a  pro- 
phecy of  Francis  Borgia,  to  all  members  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus,  "  A  man,"  says  he,  "  desirous  of  his  eternal 
welfare  would  not  neglect  a  passport  of  this  nature ; 
and  I  had  not  the  information  necessary  to  perceive 
the  vanity  and  nullity  of  such  a  pledge." 

The  answer  of  his  relatives  was  an  order  to  return 
immediately  to  Florence.  His  mother  had  no  partiality 
for  the  Jesuits  ;  and  his  uncles,  whose  ambition  it  was 
that  he  should  rise  to  the  highest  chgnities  of  the 
church,  neglected  nothing  to  hinder  him  from  burying 
himself,  with  such  hopes,  in  the  den  of  a  cloister. 
Scarcely  had  Ricci  returned  into  Tuscany,  in  1758, 
before  he  forgot  his  vocation,  and  thought  of  nothing 


28  SFXRETS    OF 

but  concluding  his  studies  at  the  university  of  Pisa,  to 
which  he  was  sent. 

He  pursued  a  course  of  theology  at  Florence,  under 
the  Benedictines  of  Mount  Cassino,  among  whom  P. 
Buonamici  was  at  that  time  lecturer.  He  then  became 
a  Jansenist,  or  rather  Augustinian.  The  sectaries  of 
that  name  frequently  join  to  their  speculative  and 
indifferent  dogmas,  the  active  and  very  important 
quality  of  being  what  is  called  regalists — that  is,  they 
make  of  religion  what  it  really  is,  a  matter  of  con- 
science, and  leave  the  care  of  government  to  those  who 
are  charged  with  it.  Augustin  did  not  preach  this 
doctrine  any  more  than  the  other  Christian  writers  of 
2n's  time,  who  could  not  even  doubt  the  horrible  abuses 
which  must  in  the  course  of  ages  arise  from  the  infer- 
nal confusion  of  the  temporal  with  the  spiritual  power. 
But  the  Jesuits  had  made  themselves  decretalists^  that 
is  to  say,  they  were  the  apostles  of  these  abuses  ;  and 
the  Jansenists  were  obliged  to  combat  these  errors  not 
only  with  the  body  which  sustained  them,  but  with 
the  Popes,  for  whose  particular  advantage  they  were 
calculated.  It  was  only  gradually  that  these  sectaries 
came  to  the  degree  of  hardihood  requisite  openly  to 
affront  the  prejudices  so  solidly  established  on  the 
superstitious  habits  of  the  one  party,  and  the  inter- 
ested ambition  of  the  other.  Ricci,  who  in  the  course 
of  his  life  ran  round  the  whole  circle  of  Jansenism, 
complains  of  it  in  these  terms  :  "  In  the  course  of 
theology,  the  doctrine  of  Augustin  was  maintained 
with  the  greatest  vigor  ;  but  the  respect  which  they 
still  had  for  certain  decretals,  and  the  fear  of  offending 
the  Court  of  Rome,  did  not  permit  the  Benedictines  to 
say  all  that  perhaps  they  thought,  but  which  cn'cum- 
stances    compelled    them  to  keep  silent." 

Ricci  was  ordained  priest  in  1766,  and  appointed 
almost  immediately  canon  and  auditor  to  the  nuncia- 
ture of  Tuscany. 

In  1772,  he  inherited  the  property  of  Corso  de  Ricci, 
canon-penitentiary  of  the  cathedral    at    Florence,  a 


FEMALE    CONVENTS,  29 

relative  of  his  father :  and  though  the  brother  of  the 
last  General  of  the  Jesuits,  he  was  very  much 
opposed  to  the  morality  which  they  taught. 

This  circumstance  brought  Ricci  in  contact  with 
the  General  of  the  Jesuits.  After  the  suppression  of 
the  society,  the  General  begged  from  him  an  asylum 
in  his  hotel  at  Florence,  or  in  one  of  his  country 
houses  in  Tuscany,  for  himself  and  a  la^^-brother. 
Ricci  went  to  Poggio-Imperiale,  to  communicate  the 
request  to  the  Grand  Duke  Leopold,  who  said  at  once, 
'^Let  him  come;  it  is  of  no  consequence  to  me  whether 
he  sojoui'Rs  in  my  States  or  elsewhere  ;  but,"  ad<led  he 
laughing,  ^'  I  don't  think  they  will  let  liim  go."  This 
answer  he  communicated  to  his  relation,  but  the 
General  was  not  allowed  to  take  advantage  of  it.  He 
was  at  first  confined  in  the  English  college,  under  the 
care  of  Cardinal  Andrew  Cursini,  and  of  Signer 
Foggini;  but  the  congregation  of  Cardinals  transferred 
him  to  the  Castle  of  Angelo,  where  he  underwent 
many  examinations,  and  where  without  leaving  it,  he 
died.  The  death  of  the  Pope  who  had  suppressed  the 
order,  had  preceded  his.  Ricci  adds  his  testimony, 
that  he  was  poisoned-  Among  his  papers  was  found 
the  following  curious  and  interesting  document, 

^'  Narrative  describing  the  last  illness  and  death  of 
Pope  Clement  X/F.,  sent  by  the  &'jjanish  Minister 
to  his  Court. 

*'In  1770,  a  country  girl  of  Valentino,  whose  name 
was  Bernadine  Beruzzi,  first  began  to  spread  her  pre- 
dictions respecting  the  Jesuits.  There  were  a  great 
number  of  other  prophecies  afloat,  by  means  of  which 
that  society  endeavored  to  rouse  the  superstition  of  the 
multitude  for  the  evident  purpose  of  restraining  Clement 
XTV.  from  issuing  the  fatal  decree  of  suppression. 
This  Bernadine  became  notorious  by  her  impostures. 
She  predicted  that  the  Society  would  not  be  extin- 
guished ;  that  one  of  its  most  celebrated  members 
would  be  raised  to  the  purple  by  Clement  XIV.  him- 

3* 


30  SECRETS    OF 

self ;  that  the  Jesuits  would  in  a  short  time  be  restored 
to  the  states  from  which  they  had  been  expelled  ;  that 
the  Pope  would  undero^o  a  total  change  of  sentiments 
towards  them ;  with  a  variety  of  other  falsities.  On 
the  24th  of  March  this  deluded  prophetess  announced 
the  death  of  Clement  XIY.,  and  persisted  in  repeating 
the  false  intelligence,  until  after  being  convinced  that 
he  wa^  still  alive,  she  returned  to  her  predictions 
respecting  the  honors  and  favors  prepared  for  the 
Jesuits.  After  the  suppression  of  the  society  in  August 
1773,  the  prophecies  still  went  on,  in  an  altered  tone ; 
that  the  society  would  be  re-established  ;  and  that  the 
Pope  and  all  those  who  had  assisted  him  would  die. 
Various  punishments  were  denounced  against  them. 
The  real  propagators  of  these  predictions  were  some 
Jesuits  who  systematically  employed  themselves  in 
that  object :  aj)plica  ut  fiat  syste7na  is  a  phrase  used 
in  a  letter  by  these  fanatics. 

"  Notwithstanding  these  rumors,  the  Pope  lived  in 
health  and  quiet  more  than  eight  months  after  the 
society  had  been  abolished,  though  he  always  sus- 
pected the  intrigues  of  the  Jesuits,  and  mentioned 
his  apprehensions.  He  resigned  himself  to  the  care 
of  the  Almighty,  to  whom  he  willingly  offered  himself 
a  sacrifice,  since,  in  suppressing  the  Jesuits,  he  had 
done  what  appeared  to  him  absolutely  necessary  and 
just,  after  numerous  and  fervent  prayers  addressed  to 
Heaven. 

"  The  Pope  was  of  a  robust  habit ;  his  voice  was 
strong  and  sonorous ;  he  walked  with  the  agility  of  a 
young  man  ;  his  disposition  was  gay,  and  he  carried 
his  affability  so  far,  that  some  persons  considered  him 
too  familiar.  His  penetration  was  so  quick,  that  a 
single  word  was  sufficient  to  make  him  perceive  the 
object  and  the  end  of  a  discourse  addressed  to  him  ;  he 
enjoyed  a  good  appetite,  and  slept  regularly  every 
night.  One  day  in  the  Holy  Week  of  the  year  1774, 
at  the  conclusion  of  dinner,  Clement  XIY.  felt  a  great 
uneasiness  of  the  chest,  stomach,  and  intestines,  ac- 
companied   with   a   chill.      The   first  evil  symptom 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  31 

which  showed  itself  was  a  weakness  of  voice,  indicat- 
ing some  extraordinary  kind  of  catarrh ;  in  consequence 
of  which  it  was  resolved,  that  during  divine  service  on 
Easter  Day,  the  Pope's  seat  should  be  guarded  against 
the  cold  air.  Everybody  present  observed  the  change 
in  his  voice.  An  inflammation  of  the  mouth  and 
throat  soon  succeeded,  and  gave  him  a  great  deal  of 
pain,  obliging  him  to  keep  his  mouth  almost  always 
open.  Then  followed  vomitings  at  intervals,  with 
excessive  pains  in  the  bowels,  renal  obstruction,  and  a 
gradual  weakness  in  the  body  and  legs ;  so  that  he 
lost  his  sleep,  and  with  it  his  alacrity  in  walking.  He 
concealed  these  indications,  though  there  is  no  doubt 
that  he  had  resorted  to  the  use  of  antidotes  to  the 
poison  which  he  was  persuaded  had  been  adminis- 
tered to  him.  The  Pope  continued  in  this  state  during 
the  months  of  May,  June,  and  July,  concealing  the 
decay  of  his  strength  and  his  other  symptoms,  whilst 
a  rumor  was  gaining  ground  that  he  could  not  long 
survive.  Some  persons  went  so  far  as  to  appoint  the 
16th  of  July  as  the  day  of  his  death  ;  and  after  that 
time  had  passed  over,  October  was  fixed  upon,  in 
conformity  with  letters  from  Germany  and  other  parts. 
"  In  July  he  began  the  use  of  medicinal  waters, 
which  itwas  his  annual  custom  to  drink.  Itwas  remark- 
ed that  this  year  his  usual  eruption,  an  acrid  humor, 
did  not  come  to  his  relief,  in  sufficient  abundance,  till 
the  beginning  of  August ;  and  he  continued  the  habit 
of  holding  his  mouth  open,  suffering  also  from  weak- 
ness and  the  sore  throat,  together  with  excessive  perspi  ra- 
tions.  He  gave  audiences  to  the  ministers  towards  the 
end  of  August,  notwithstanding  the  pain  and  feeble- 
ness occasioned  by  his  illness,  which  had  deprived  him 
of  his  natural  cheerfulness  and  affability ;  so  that  it 
required  the  united  force  of  a  cultivated  understanding 
and  apious  temper,  to  moderate  the  pressure  of  his  bodily 
infirmities,  and  to  restore  his  habitual  urbanity.  At 
this  juncture  a  letter  was  received  by  the  Secretary 
for  the  "  Affairs  of  Jesuits,"  from  the  Vicar-general 
of  Padua,  informing  him  that  some  ex-jesuits  had 


32  SECRETS    OF 

appeared  before  him,  and  had  indulged  in  the  most 
violent  imprecations  against  the  Pope,  asserting  that 
the  month  of  September  would  terminate  his  existence. 

"  An  engraving  was  also  published  in  Germany, 
exhibiting,  on  the  left  hand  the  figure  of  Death,  with 
the  likeness  of  Christ  on  a  flag :  on  the  right  side 
was  a  staff,  supporting  a  sort  of  tabernacle,  in  which 
was  represented  an  ex-jesuit,  dressed  in  the  habili- 
ments of  a  secular  priest.  At  the  top  were  the  letters 
IHS,  and  at  the  bottom,  the  inscription  /Sic  finis  erit ! 
Behold  the  end  !  There  were,  besides,  some  German 
verses,  declaring  that  although  the  Jesuits  had  been 
compelled  to  alter  their  dress,  they  never  would 
change  their  opinions,  and  immediately  afterwards, 
the  following  text  from  1  Kings,  xxxv.  18. — qYoD 
bonVM  est,  In  oCVLIs  sYIs  faCIet.  The  letters 
printed  in  capitals,  when  joined  together,  give  the 
number  MDCOLYVVVIIII,  1774,  the  year  in  which 
Clement  died. 

"  A  fever  supervened  to  those  symptoms.  This 
happened  on  the  evening  of  the  1 0th  September.  It 
was  accompanied  by  a  sort  of  fainting,  and  an  excess 
of  debility,  which  seemed  to  threaten  the  speedy 
extinction  of  life.  Ten  ounces  of  blood  were  taken 
from  him  the  same  night,  without  any  sign  of  inflam- 
mation ;  nor  did  his  breathing,  his  chest,  nor  his 
bowels,  give  any  cause  for  alarm.  The  coagulation  of 
the  blood  took  place  in  a  satisfactory  manner,  not- 
withstanding the  declared  opinion  of  his  physician, 
that  the  complaint  arose  from  a  deficiency  of  serum, 
caused  by  the  profuse  perspirations  he  had  undergone. 
He  was  free  from  fever  on  the  morning  of  the  11th, 
and  continued  so  during  the  whole  day  ;  he  had  so 
much  recovered  on  the  12th,  that  he  took  his  usual 
walk  on  the  14th  and  1 5th,  and  even  thought  himself 
equal  to  the  fatigue  of  going  to  the  Castel  Gandolfo, 
where  he  seemed  to  enjoy  the  prospect  of  spending  his 
time  in  the  country,  according  to  his  custom  at  that 
season. 

"But  on  the  15th  he  relapsed  into  his  former  weak- 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  33 

ness,  to  which  was  added  a  deep  sleep,  night  and  day, 
till  the  18th,  when  he  awoke  for  a  few  minutes.  On 
the  19th  it  was  perceived  that  he  had  fever,  together 
with  a  swelling  of  the  abdomen  and  retention  of  water. 
Some  blood  was  taken  from  him,  which,  however,  gave 
no  sign  of  inflammation.  Besides  which,  the  bowels, 
when  pressed,  caused  him  no  uneasiness,  and  his 
breathing  and  chest  were  perfectly  unencumbered. 
An  access  of  fever  in  the  evening  made  it  necessary 
to  repeat  the  bleeding,  and  the  same  operation  was 
renewed  on  the  20th,  although  the  pulse  had  become 
softer,  and  the  swelling  had  abated.  But  the  inflam- 
mation returned  in  the  evening,  and  the  hope  of  his 
amendment  had  so  far  disappeared,  as  to  make  it  appear 
proper  to  present  him  with  the  viaticum. 

"  He  passed  a  night  of  great  agitation.  On  the  21st 
he  was  bled  again.  The  fever,  the  swelling,  and  the 
retention  still  continued.  At  length  the  extreme  unc- 
tion was  administered  to  him  that  evening,  and  about 
half  past  seven  o'clock,  on  the  morning  of  the  22d 
September,  1774,  he  surrendered  his  soul  into  the 
hands  of  its  Author. 

"  About  the  same  hour  on  the  succeeding  day,  they 
proceeded  to  open  and  embalm  the  body,  when  the 
countenance  was  livid,  the  lips  and  nails  were  black, 
and  the  back  had  assumed  a  dark  complexion.  The 
abdomen  was  swelled,  and  the  whole  body  emaciated, 
with  a  sort  of  cedar  color  approaching  to  the  appear- 
ance of  ashes,  but  which,  nevertheless,  allowed  here 
and  there  to  be  seen  some  livid  spots  beneath  the  skin 
about  the  arms,  the  sides,  and  the  lower  extremities. 

"  On  dissection,  it  was  discovered  that  inflammation 
and  gangrene  had  commenced  in  the  left  lobe  of  the 
lungs,  adhering  to  the  pleura  ;  the  opposite  lobe  was 
also  inflamed.  They  were  both  loaded  with  blood ; 
and  when  the  knife  was  put  into  them  a  sanguineous 
discharge  took  place.  The  pericardium  was  opened, 
and  the  heart  was  diminished  in  size  by  the  total  want 
of  those  humors  which  are  found  in  that  membrane. 
Beneath  the  diaphragm,  the  stomach  and  intestines 


34  SECRETS?    OF 

were  in  the  last  stage  of  mortificatioD .  The  oesophagus 
was  inflamed  throughout  its  whole  interior,  as  far  as 
the  pylorus  and  the  small  intestines,  with  an  evident 
tendency  to  gangrene,  as  well  as  the  upper  and  lower 
divisions  of  the  stomach  ;  and  all  these  parts,  as  well 
as  the  intestines,  were  covered  over  with  a  fluid  which 
the  physicians  call  black  bile.  The  liver  was  small, 
and  in  its  upper  portion  contained  some  particles  of 
serum  ;  the  gall-bag  was  unusually  distended,  and  Avas 
observed  to  contain  a  great  quantity  of  atrabilious  fluid; 
a  large  deposit  of  lymph  had  also  taken  place  in  the 
cavity  of  the  belly;  the  dura  mater  was  swelled,  but 
presented  no  remarkable  appearance  in  itself,  except 
that  of  flaccidity.  The  intestines  and  viscera  were 
placed  in  a  vase,  which  burst  open  about  an  hour  after 
sunset,  filling  the  chamber  with  an  insufferable  stench, 
notwithstanding  the  embalming  had  only  been  finished 
a  few  hours  before.  On  the  next  morning,  24th  Sep- 
tember, it  was  considered  necessary  to  call  in  a  physi- 
cian ;  he  found  the  smell  unabated,  the  countenance 
swelkd  and  discolored,  and  the  hands  quite  black. 
On  the  back  of  the  hands  bladders  had  risen  as  high 
as  two  fingers,  running  across  each  other,  and  filled 
with  lixivial  matter,  as  if  blistered  with  some  boiling 
or  ardent  fluid. 

"Besides  this,  a  great  quantity  of  serous  humor, 
mixed  with  clotted  blood,  trickled  down  the  lower  side 
of  the  bed,  and  spread  profusely  over  the  floor.  This 
circumstance  very  much  surprised  the  professional 
attendants,  especially  considering  that  life  had  not  been 
extinct  four-and-twenty  hours,  and  that  every  precau- 
tion had  been  resorted  to,  by  cleansing  the  body  and 
removing  the  viscera,  as  well  as  by  embalming.  It 
was  consequently  proposed  to  enclose  the  body  in  a 
coffin,  but  the  master  of  the  house  suggested  that  such 
a  step  was  likely  to  have  a  bad  effect  upon  the  public 
mind,  and  prevailed  upon  them  to  be  satisfied  with 
such  means  as  their  art  afforded.  The  pontifical 
habiliments,  when  removed,  carried  awa}^  with  them  a 
large  portion  of  the  ski7i  and  even  of  the  cutis.     The 


FEMALE    CONVSNTS.  35 

thumb  nail  on  the  right  hand  was  detached,  and  on 
trying  the  other,  every  person  present  was  convinced 
that  the  sUghtest  movement  was  sufficient  to  separate 
all  the  nails  in  succession. 

"  In  the  dorsal  region  all  the  muscles  were  disunited 
and  decomposed  to  such  a  degree,  that  towards  the 
middle  of  the  back  and  by  the  side  of  the  spine,  for 
the  size  of  three  fingers,  there  was  found  a  large  lump 
formed  of  the  snpercostal  and  intercostal  muscles — on 
making  two  incisions  the  embalming  was  seen  entire 
in  the  chest. 

"  Except  on  the  legs  and  thighs,  a  sort  of  breaking 
out  was  observed  all  over  the  body.  Various  additional 
precautions  were  employed^  and  the  incisions  that  were 
made  caused  a  discharge  of  fluid  which  had  the  ap- 
pearance of  bubbles. 

•'  It  was  also  remarked,  that  a  great  part  of  the  hair 
of  the  head  had  adhered  to  the  pillow  ;  and,  in  short, 
notwithstanding  the  bod^^  was  embalmed  afresh,  and 
every  endeavor  was  made  by  the  assistants,  it  was 
found  absolutely  necessary  to  enclose  it,  after  its  re- 
moval to  St.  Peter's,  in  spite  of  the  suspicious  caution 
with  which  the  medical  examiners  expressed  them- 
selves. Many  of  the  circumstances  here  related  were 
rumored  throughout  Rome  ;  and  the  people  were 
shocked  to  the  last  degree,  by  the  full  persuasion  that 
the  Pope  had  been  poisoned  by  means  of  the  Acquetta, 
which  is  made  in  Calabria  and  Perugia,  and  which  has 
the  property  of  destroying  life  in  the  gradual  manner 
I  have  described. 

''Intelligent  persons  compared  together  the  various 
prophecies  which  had  been  set  afloat.  In  addition  to 
which,  we  must  bear  in  mind  the  false  reports,  the 
engravings,  the  threats,  the  internal  commotion  that 
seized  Clement  XIV.,  the  inflammation  of  his  throat 
and  mouth,  the  gradual  decay  of  his  strength,  the  chill, 
the  swelling  of  the  belly,  the  renal  obstruction,  the 
hoarseness,  the  vomitings,  and,  finally,  the  livid  dis- 
coloration of  the  flesh  and  nails,  the  loss  of  their  tena- 
city, and  that  of  his  hair,  the  dry  state  of  the  heart,  cUid 


36  SECRETS    OF 

the  other  symptoms.  After  all  these  facts,  it  seems 
hardly  conceivable  that  an  inflammatory  disorder,  as 
the  physicians  named  it,  without  some  violent  cause, 
should  leave  the  blood  without  any  indication  of  fever 
during  nine  successive  days.  Those  persons  thought 
themselves  authorized  in  applying  to  the  case  of  Cle- 
ment XIV.  the  distinguishing  signs  of  poison,  pointed 
out  by  Paul  Zacchia,  a  celebrated  Roman  physician." 


CHAP  TE  R    II. 

Pius  VI.  elected  Pope. — Ricci  refuses  to  enter  into  the  Prelacy.— Corres- 
pondence of  Ricci  with  the  last  General  of  the  Jesuits. — Trial  of  the 
ex-General,  and  his  Protestations  of  Innocence. — Ricci  appointed  Vicar- 
General  of  the  Archbishop  of  Florence. — Efforts  of  the  Grand  Duke 
Leopold  for  the  diffusion  of  Knowledge,  and  the  opposition  of  the  See 
of  Rome. 

Angelo  Braschi  ascended  the  pontifical  throne 
upon  the  death  of  Ganganelli.  He  owed  his  fortune 
to  the  General  of  the  Jesuits,  who  had  obtained  for  him 
the  situation  of  Treasurer  of  the  Court  of  Rome,  under 
the  reign  of  Clement  XIII.;  but  he  could  not  do  any 
thing  for  the  society,  or  its  imprisoned  chief  It  is 
supposed  that  the  Bourbon  princes,  before  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  Conclave,  obtained  from  him  a  promise  to 
that  effect.  When  it  was  discovered  that  he  was  on 
the  eve  of  pubUshing  a  decree,  by  which  he  annulled 
all  the  acts  and  rescripts  granted  by  the  deceased  Pon- 
tiff, on  the  ground  that  the  weakness  of  his  intellect 
afforded  opportunities  of  abusing  his  signature,  these 
courts  took  the  precaution  of  having  the  Jive  or  six 
last  months  specified.  By  this  means,  they  hindered 
the  epoch  of  the  Brief  of  Suppression  from  being  com- 
prised in  this  measure,  as  might  have  been  the  case, 
if  an  indeterminate  or  too  long  a  period  had  been 
named. 

Ricci  went  to  Rome  in  1775,  to  attend  to  the  rejoicing 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  37 

consequent  on  the  exaltation  of  the  new  Pope.  His 
relation  to  the  ex-general,  the  friendship  of  the  Tuscan 
cardinal,  Torrigiani,  who  was  devoted  to  the  Jesuits, 
his  reputation  for  moderation  and  impartiality,  which 
he  had  attained  by  his  prudence  in  not  taking  any  part 
in  a  quarrel  then  so  important,  caused  him  to  be  re- 
quested to  enter  into  the  prelacy.  He  resisted  the 
temptation,  giving  these  reasons  for  his  disinclination  : 
"  I  saw  the  danger  of  such  a  career,  and  having  well 
examined  the  intrigues  and  cabals  of  the  Court  of 
Rome,  I  perceived  that  no  where  so  much  as  there, 
is  the  possibility  of  continuing  to  be  an  honest  man 
incompatible  with  the  idea  of  what  is  called  making 
one's  fortune,  and  rising  to  elevated  situations.  If  any 
one  has  succeeded  there  in  preserving  his  honor,  and 
remaining  a  Christian,  after  having  entered  into  the 
career  of  the  prelacy,  he  is  the  rara  avis  in  terris. 
I  made  a  resolution  not  even  to  think  of  it.  So  great 
a  horror  had  I  conceived  for  the  tricks  and  dissimila- 
tion which  I saiD  openly  j)7Xictised  in  the  prelacy^  that 
I  could  not  conceal  from  my  friends  the  disgust  which 
I  felt,  at  seeing  the  vileness  and  the  courtier-like  adu- 
lations to  which  they  were  compelled  to  debase  them- 
selves." This  is  said  by  a  zealous  Roman  Catholic, 
and  a  prelate. 

Ricci,  during  his  stay  at  Rome,  applied  for  liberty  to 
see  his  confined  relative  ;  but  in  vain.  In  the  course 
of  the  interview  which  he  obtained  with  the  Pope, 
Pius  yi.  could  not  conceal  his  chagrin  at  the  ecclesi- 
astical reforms  carrying  on  by  the  House  of  Austria, 
and  by  Leopold.  He  then  referred  the  matter  of  his 
request  to  Cardinal  Giraud,  who  refused  the  required 
permission.  But,  in  spite  of  all  their  precautions, 
Ricci  contrived  to  carry  on  a  correspondence  with  the 
General,  by  means  of  a  soldier  named  Serafini,  who 
was  his  guard ;  and,  through  his  agency,  he  received 
from  his  unfortunate  relatve  a  copy  of  his  examination 
at  the  Castle  of  Angelo.  These  documents  furnish 
authentic  evidence  of  the  pertinacity  with  which  the 
last  leader  of  that  formidable  body  denied  the  crimes 

4 


38  SECRETS    OF 

imputed  to  himself  and  his  society.  His  imprisonment 
only  terminated  with  his  life. 

The  death  of  the  ex-General  of  the  Jesuits  took  place 
at  the  Castle  of  Angelo,  in  No\^ember,  1775.  His  con- 
fidence in  his  relative  Scipio  de  Ricci  appears  to  have 
been  unbounded,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  duty  which 
he  imposed  upou  him  by  his  dying  wish,  that  Ricci 
would  recommend  him  to  the  Almighty  by  as  many 
masses  as  he  could  say,  seeing  that  he  was  deprived  of 
about  22,000,  which  would  have  been  performed  had 
he  expired  as  General  of  the  Society  of  Jesuits. 

After  his  visit  to  Rome,  in  1775,  Ricci  returned 
to  Florence.  He  had  scarcely  arrived,  when  he  was 
made  Yicar-General,  and  Yicar  ad  causas  to  the  Arch- 
bishop Incontri.  This  prelate  had  been  formerly  an 
enemy  to  the  Jesuits ;  but  of  late  years  he  was  one  of 
their  party.  About  the  time  when  Ricci  was  created 
Vicar-General,  he  had  given  the  liberty  to  the  suppress- 
ed Jesuits  to  preach  and  confess ;  but  their  seditious 
behavior  awoke  the  attention  of  the  Government,  and 
the  Prince,  by  a  letter  to  the  bishops,  adopted  the  cir- 
cular of  Clement  XIV.,  by  which  these  duties  had  been 
foi'bidden  to  the  Jesuits. 

In  his  new  situation,  Ricci  soon  displayed  his  Jan- 
senist  principles.  At  that  period  Rome  saw  with  great 
displeasure  the  Grand  Duke  applying  himself  entirely 
to  encourage  education,  and  to  destroy  the  reign  of  ig- 
norance, which  she  had  consolidated  under  her  false 
pretensions.  She  opposed  his  views  as  much  as  she 
could ;  endeavored  to  put  down  the  obnoxious  cate- 
chism of  Colbert,  to  stop  the  printing  of  the  Ecclesi- 
astical History  of  Racine,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Government ;  and  made  efforts  to  check  an  edition  of 
Machiavel. 

Among  the  services  rendered  by  the  Jansenists  to 
philosophy,  one  of  the  most  important  was  their  con- 
tending for  liberty  of  thought  and  writing.  The  pub- 
lication of  those  writings  in  Tuscany  was  a  benefit,  so 
far  as  it  sapped  the  despotism  of  the  priesthood,  and 
was  a  victory  over  that  redoubtable  power,  of  which 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  39 

it  was  above  all  necessary  to  destroy  the  reputation  of 
being  invincible.  A  daring  publication  of  Machiavel, 
that  inflexible  historian  of  the  Popes  and  their  court, 
whom  Rome  has  particularly  prohibited,  and  the  free 
reading  of  whose  works  proved  the  contempt  enter- 
tained of  the  Pontifical  index — this  act  alone  was  a 
benefit  to  the  world. 


CHAPTER    III. 

Elevation  of  Scipio  de  Ricci  to  the  Bishopric  of  Pistoia  and  Prato. — 
Discontent  of  the  Pope  at  the  Ecclesiastical  Reforms  of  the  Grand 
Duke  Leopold. — Differences  between  the  Civil  and  Spiritual  Govern- 
ment of  Tuscany,  previous  to  the  accession  of  Leopold. — The  Senator 
Rucellai  labors  to  free  Tuscany  from  the  despotism  of  the  Court  of 
Rome. — His  Memoir  on  the  famous  Bull  In  Coena  Domini. 

In  1780,  the  destiny  of  Ricci  was  changed  by  the 
death  of  Ippolite,  Bishop  of  Pistoia.  Ricci  had  no 
desire  to  undertake  the  labors  of  the  Episcopal  office, 
but  he  was  in  a  manner  forced  to  do  so  by  his  friends. 
He  was  received  very  flatter  in  o^ly  by  the  Pope,  who, 
however,  could  not  avoid  repeating  frequently:  "  Your 
Grand  Duke  will  have  to  render  an  account  to  God, 
for  so  many  of  his  actions  which  are  hurtful  to  the 
Church."  Ricci  replied,  "  that  he  hoped  he  should 
always  enjoy  from  the  Duke  full  protection  in  favor  of 
relio^ion,  and  that  he  did  not  believe  him  capable  of 
doing  any  thing  against  the  interests  of  the  Catholic 
Church."  But  the  Pope  would  not  be  persuaded,  and 
added  in  a  grave  tone,  "  You  are  young,  but  in  time 
you  will  see  it !"  and  with  these  words  he  dismissed 
him. 

Before  we  proceed  to  the  very  curious  and  interest- 
ing details  of  the  ecclesiastical  abuses  which  Ricci  was 
the  great  instrument  in  detecting,  and  of  the  reforms 
which  he  labored  to  establish,  in  opposition  to  the 
Court   of  Rome,   amongst   a   corrupt   and   depraved 


40  SECRETS    OF 

priesthood,  it  may  assist  the  reader  to  collect,  into  one 
view,  the  History  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Reforms  in 
Tuscany,  which  preceded  the  election  of  Ricci  to  the 
Bishopric  of  Pistoia  and  Prato. 

The  Medici  had  always  been  very  desirous  of  the 
friendship  of  the  Court  of  Rome,  and  had  made  it  the 
principal  object  of  their  ambition  to  possess  influence 
with  it.  The  election  of  the  Popes,  in  their  time,  had, 
in  consequence,  almost  always  depended  on  the  will 
of  that  family;  and  all  the  Catholic  princes,  who  had 
any  points  of  importance  to  carry  with  the  See  of 
Rome,  regularly  endeavored  to  secure  its  good -will. 
In  return  for  that  species  of  glory,  the  Medici  permit- 
ted the  Popes  to  exercise  an  extensive  authority  in 
Tuscany. 

The  Emperor  Francis  followed  the  same  course  in 
the  beginning  of  his  reign  ;  but  in  a  short  time  Count 
Richecourt  was  sent  from  Vienna,  to  put  himself  at  the 
head  of  the  Regency,  and  to  govern  Tuscany.  Power- 
fully aided  by  Senator  Rucellai,  Secretary  of  the  Juris- 
diction, or  Rights  of  the  Crown,  a  species  of  minister 
for  affairs  connected  with  the  Catholic  worship — a 
man  distinguished  for  his  learning,  his  integrity,  his 
firmness,  and  his  zeal  for  the  Government — Richecourt 
resisted  every  attempt  at  usurpation  on  the  part  of  the 
Court  of  Rome,  and  opposed  without  intermission  its 
iniquitous  pretensions.  From  that  moment  the  two 
courts  were  at  open  war. 

The  first  rupture  which  took  place  between  them 
arose  from  the  acquisitions  of  property  in  mortmain, 
which  had  been  strictly  forbidden,  without  the  express 
permission  of  Government,  by  a  law  published  in  1751. 
The  Counsellor  of  State,  Pompee  Neri,  and  Senator 
Rucellai,  accompanied  the  publication  of  this  law  with 
instructions  and  explanations^  in  regard  to  the  neces- 
sity of  preventing  an  increase  of  the  prosperity  of  arti- 
ficial families^  meaning  corporations,  collegiate  bodies, 
convents,  &c.  at  the  expense  of  natural  families^  or 
individuals,  and  the  accumulation  of  wealth  on  the 
part  of  the  clergy. 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  4l 

'  These  instructions  and  explanations^  with  the  law 
alluded  to,  are  in  the  archives  of  the  Ecclesiastical 
Tribunal  at  Florence. 

This  important  measure,  by  means  of  which  the 
insatiable  cupidity  of  the  priests  was  checked,  was  fol- 
lowed by  an  edict  relating  to  the  censorship  of  printed 
works,  which  the  Government  alleged  ought  to  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  inspection  of  the  civil  power,  instead  of 
the  Inquisitor  General  of  Religion,  who,  until  this 
period,  had  possessed  the  exclusive  management  of 
that  powerful  engine  for  retaining  the  Tuscans  in 
ignorance. 

To  the  complaints  of  Rome,  the  Regency  of  Tuscany 
replied  by  other  complaints  ;  accusing  the  Florentine 
Inquisition  of  abusing  its  authority,  and  the  Inquisitor 
at  Pisa  of  having  almost  murdered  a  man,  whom  he 
had  succeeded  in  passing  off  as  a  heretic,  although  he 
had  only  been  guilty  of  preventing  his  daughter  from 
yielding  to  the  seductions  of  the  Inquisitor. 

This  event,  with  others  of  similar  atrocity,  induced 
the  Emperor  to  order  the  prisons  of  the  Inquisition  to 
be  shut,  and  to  demand  the  consent  of  Rome  to  the 
addition  of  two  lay  assessors  ;  a  measure  which  de- 
stroyed the  inviolable  secrecy  hitherto  maintained  in 
regard  to  the  proceedings  of  that  dreadful  tribunal, 
and  deprived  it  of  the  means  of  continuing  its  iniqui- 
ties. 

The  reluctant  consent  of  Rome  was  also  procured 
to  the  suppression  of  several  convents  of  nuns  by  the 
Government.  The  Emperor,  being  desirous  of  dimi- 
nishing the  excessive  number  of  cures  at  Florence,  on 
account  of  their  inutility,  their  poverty,  the  indecency 
with  which  they  were  managed,  the  small  number  of 
parishioners,  the  short  distance  intervening  between 
one  church  and  another,  and  the  great  facility  which 
they  afforded  to  criminals  of  escaping  from  the  arm  of 
the  law,  ceased  to  nominate  curates,  and  the  parishes 
remained  vacant. 

Such  is  the  substance  of  a  very  luminous  memoir, 
drawn   up  by  Rucellai,  on  the  differences  with  the 

4* 


42  SECRETS    OF 

Court  of  Rome.  Mention  is  also  made  in  it  of  the  In- 
quisition, of  which  the  Government  had  a  short  time 
before  recognised  the  legaHty,  upon  condition  that  it 
should  be  oro^anized  on  the  same  footino-  as  at  Venice. 
That  tribunal  at  Florence  had  established,  without 
any  privilege  to  that  effect  being  conferred  upon  it,  not 
only  prisons  but  an  armed  police  at  the  public  expense  ; 
and  it  succeeded  easily,  notwithstanding  measures  taken 
to  prevent  it,  in  eluding  every  restriction  which  was 
attempted  to  be  put  on  its  authority.  This  was  accom- 
plished by  means  of  a  tacit  understanding  on  the  sub- 
ject between  the  Inquisitor  and  the  Archbishop,  who 
remitted  to  the  nunciature  those  cases  of  an  inquisi- 
torial nature,  of  which  they  did  not  choose  that  the 
Government  should  take  cognizance  by  means  of  its 
assessors. 

Piccolomini,  Bishop  of  Pienza,  pretending  that  he  was 
subject  to  the  Pope  only,  and  not  to  the  Emperor,  had 
carried  his  extravagance  so  far  as  to  excommunicate 
several  of  the  officers  of  Government  in  his  diocese,  and 
among  others,  a  communal  chancellor  of  Pienza,  Ruti- 
lus  Gini.  He  had  declared  him  liable  to  the  censures 
of  the  Bull  "/?i  Coena  Domini  f  and  as  he  had  at  the 
same  time  expressly  forbidden  those  priests  who  were 
under  his  authority,  to  administer  to  Gini  any  of  the 
sacraments  of  the  Church,  so  long  as  he  should  persist 
in,  what  the  Bishop  termed,  "the  public  scandal  of 
obeying  the  Government,"  he  was,  from  his  inability 
to  obtain  absolution,  prevented  also  from  marrying. 

After  twelve  years'  endurance  of  his  conduct,  the 
Emperor  had  this  prelate  conducted  to  the  frontiers  of 
the  Grand  Duchy,  under  a  guard  of  soldiers.  Picco- 
lomini's  turbulence  caused  him  to  be  received  with 
much  distinction  by  the  Pope,  Clement  XIII.,  who 
warmly  embraced  his  cause,  and  permitted  him,  within 
his  own  states,  to  excommunicate  the  Emperor  and  all 
his  ministers,  and  to  post  up  the  sentence  in  the  usual 
places. 

There  were  also  some  differences  between  Tuscany 
and  the  Court  of  Rome,  which  arose  out  of  certain 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  43 

places  being"  considered  as  asylums  to  which  criminals 
might  repair  for  evading  the  punishment  of  the  law. 
These  asylums  the  Government  had  frequently  been 
obliged  to  violate  for  the  sake  of  public  justice  ;  and 
the  Court  of  Rome  had  promised  to  conclude  a  con- 
cordat in  regard  to  them,  upon  condition  that  they 
should  all  be  respected  by  the  civil  authorities  during 
the  time  the  negotiations  were  pending.  The  Govern- 
ment kept  its  promise  ;  but  no  progress  was  made  in 
the  negotiation,  and  the  asylums  were  full  of  criminals. 

Such  was  the  posture  of  affairs  at  the  accession  of 
Leopold  to  the  Grand  Ducal  crown.  Both  parties 
were  dreadfully  exasperated.  Tuscany  looked  upon 
Cardinal  Torrigiani,  Secretary  of  State,  as  an  artful 
and  faithless  priest ;  while  Rome  considered  Rucellai 
as  her  mortal  enemy. 

The  measures  adopted  by  Leopold,  and  the  motives 
which  induced  him  to  become  a  reformer  of  the  exter- 
nal worship  and  ecclesiastical  discipline  of  his  States, 
demonstrate  that  he  laid  down  as  the  principle  of  all 
his  operations,  an  invariable  resolution  to  separate  dis- 
tinctly what  was  spiritual  from  what  was  temporal ; 
never  to  intermeddle  with  the  former  in  any  respect, 
and  at  the  same  time  never  to  permit  the  clergy  to  in- 
terfere in  the  smallest  degree  with  the  latter. 

He  was  always  willing  to  yield  to  the  clergy  in 
things  which  Avere  strictly  spiritual ;  but  at  the  same 
time  he  fully  determined  not  to  succumb  to  them  in 
those  which  were  not  within  their  province.  He  wished 
that  his  bishops  should  apply  directly  to  him  in  all 
their  difficulties  ;  and  showed  himself  ready  to  assist 
them  to  the  utmost  of  his  power,  whenever  a  proper 
and  useful  end  was  in  view.  But  they  lost  all  claims 
to  his  protection,  and  even  to  his  esteem,  whenever 
they  sought  to  interfere  in  matters  belonging  to  the 
State,  with  which,  he  said,  they  had  no  concern. 

Senator  Rucellai,  who,  previous  to  the  accession  of 
Leopold  to  the  throne  of  Tuscany,  appears  to  have 
been  the  most  consistent  and  determined  enemy  to  the 
abuses  of  the  See  of  Rome,  drew  up  for  the  information 


44  SECRETS    OF 

and  guidance  of  his  sovereign,  several  very  important 
and  interesting  memoirs,  not  only  on  minute  points  of 
ecclesiastical  discipline,  but  on  the  right  of  the  spiritual 
power  to  interfere  in  matters  of  civil  government.  The 
most  remarkable  of  these  documents  is  that  bearing 
date  the  14th  of  July,  1769,  in  which  Rucellai  combats 
the  pretensions  of  the  Pope  to  interfere  with  the  civil 
obedience  of  the  priests,  by  the  celebrated  Bull  In 
Coena  Domini.  This  memoir  presents  many  points 
of  peculiar  interest  to  the  whole  Christian  community  ; 
particularly  at  this  period,  when  attempts  are  making 
to  revive  that  dominion  of  the  Roman  priesthood,  which 
might  have  been  expected  to  have  been  swept  away  in 
the  great  conflict  of  opinions  which  has  marked  the 
last  forty  years. 

Secretary  Rucellai  insists  particularly  upon  the  spirit 
which  dictated  that  eternal  monument  of  priestly  am- 
bition, the  Bull  In  Cce/^of,  upon  the  consequences  of  its 
being  put  in  execution  in  Tuscany,  on  the  means  of 
opposing  it,  and  of  resisting  at  the  same  time  the  at- 
tempts of  the  Court  of  Rome  against  the  rights  of  the 
Crown. 

"  A  sovereign,"  says  he,  "  owes  it  to  his  own  dignity, 
and  to  justice,  to  defend  both  himself  and  his  rights 
against  the  invasion  of  the  Bull  In  Cwna,  and  his  sub- 
jects against  the  evil  consequences  of  the  measures 
with  which  it  threatens  them." 

The  foundation  of  the  Romish  authority  is  contained 
in  the  "  Body  of  Canon  Law,"  and  especially  in  that 
part  of  it  entitled  "  Pontifical  Authority."  It  is  com- 
posed of  bulls,  letters,  and  replies  of  the  Popes,  and  of 
decrees  of  Assemblies  of  his  Court,  and  is  the  instru- 
ment by  means  of  which  Rome  is  enabled  to  convert 
the  priesthood  into  an  engine  for  the  attainment  of  its 
political  views,  even  in  the  States  of  others. 

The  Bull,  known  by  the  name,  In  Coena  Domini., 
is  a  summary  of  all  those  ecclesiastical  laws,  which 
tend  to  establish  the  despotism  of  the  Court  of  Rome ; 
a  despotism  of  many  ages,  which  was  watered  with 
the  blood  of  millions  of  human  creatures,  founded  with 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  45 

the  spoils  of  debased  sovereigns,  and  raised  on  the  ruins 
of  overturned  thrones.  The  principles  of  that  Bull 
pervade,  and  are  interwoven  with,  every  part  of  the 
canon  law,  which  is  publicly  taught  in  Romish  semi- 
naries. 

The  Ball  In  Cmna  was  the  origin  of  those  scanda- 
lous differences  between  the  priesthood  and  the  Empire, 
which  happened  in  the  eleventh  century ;  differences 
totally  unknown  until  the  Church  began  to  speak  a 
language  invented  by  the  Court  of  Rome,  in  order  to 
abuse  with  impunity  the  power  of  the  keys,  by  means 
of  the  factions  of  the  Guelfs  and  Ghibellines,  which 
she  brought  forth  and  fostered.  It  was  the  origin  also 
of  the  Inquisition,  which  it  supported  in  its  greatest 
enormities,  of  the  crusades,  of  its  censorships,  inter- 
dicts, (fee.  (fee. ;  all  these  it  employed,  first  to  balance, 
and  then  to  pull  down  the  diiferent  powers  of  the 
Empire ;  to  strip  it  of  one  part  of  its  States  in  Italy, 
and  out  of  them  to  erect  itself  into  a  species  of  new 
monarchy. 

Sovereigns  not  unfrequently  deposed  by  their  sub- 
jects, or  rather  by  the  subjects  of  the  priesthood,  and 
being  incessantly  threatened  by  fanatics  who  were  de- 
voted to  the  Church,  were  compelled  by  necessity  to 
trust  their  defence  to  the  pens  of  civilians.  Their 
rights  were  ably  supported  by  Pierre  Cugnree,  Paris, 
Pierre  des  Yignes,  Marsile  of  Padua,  and  Dante,  of  all 
of  whom  the  Court  of  Rome  found  little  difficulty  in 
getting  rid,  by  declaring  them  attainted  and  convicted 
of  heresy — at  that  period,  the  most  dreadful  of  all 
crimes. 

This  attempt,  which  ended  so  unfortunately  for  its 
first  promoters,  was  the  origin  and  beginning  of  that 
religious  reformation,  which  was  finally  adopted,  with 
the  exception  of  France,  by  every  nation  which  was 
not  inclined  to  remain  in  a  state  of  slavery.  The  kings 
of  France,  who  dreaded  a  reform,  succeeded  in  avoid- 
ing it,  by  allowing  their  subjects  to  be  harrassed  by 
those  civil  wars  which  Rome  lighted  up  under  the 
pretext  of  religion ;  by  maintaining  endless  disputes 


46  SECRETS    OF 

with  her;  and  at  length  by  accepting  a  system  of 
rights,  professedly  granted  to  them  alone,  under  the 
name  of  the  "  Privileges  of  the  French  Church," 
which  the  Court  of  Rome  abhors  at  heart  fully  as 
much  as  reform  and  heresy. 

Italy,  where  the  love  of  political  liberty  had  rendered 
the  people  almost  vassals  of  the  Court  of  Rome,  which 
they  defended  against  the  Emperors,  not  because  they 
thought  its  pretensions  well  founded,  but  because  it 
defended  them  in  its  turn,  with  the  only  weapons 
which  could  be  advantageously  employed  against 
those  of  the  Empire, — excommunications  and  inter- 
dicts,— Italy  was  subjected  to  all  the  abuses  arising 
out  of  the  sacerdotal  system.  From  the  mercantile 
spirit  which  the  Italians  of  those  times  considered  as 
the  main  spring,  both  of  political  principles  and  events, 
they  conceived  themselves  interested  in  supporting  the 
Court  of  Rome  in  every  measure  and  enterprise,  how- 
ever unjust,  in  order  to  secure  to  it  that  supreme 
authority  over  the  Catholic  world,  which  attracted  to 
them  the  riches  and  wealth  of  all  Europe. 

Rome,  considered  in  a  political  point  of  view,  was 
at  that  period  the  bulwark  of  Italian  liberty  ;  in  a  mer- 
cantile point  of  view,  the  source  and  cause  of  Italian 
prosperity.  To  maintain  this  character,  it  was  neces- 
sary she  should  preserve  her  power,  and  this  she  could 
only  do  by  means  of  the  gross  delusion  of  pontifical 
authority. 

Scarcely  had  the  new  Italian  Governments  been  rid 
of  all  fear,  in  regard  to  their  independence  from  abroad, 
than  they  began  to  dread  encroachment  on  the  part 
of  the  sacerdotal  body,  and  changed  immediately  their 
system  and  their  conduct.  Without  openly  declaring 
their  opposition  to  the  intolerable  pretensions  of  the 
Court  of  Rome,  they  endeavored  to  invalidate  them  by 
means  of  new  laws,  all  passed  about  the  same  period, 
whose  object  was  to  restrain  the  papal  authority,  and 
the  personal  immunities  of  the  clergy. 

To  speak  only  of  Tuscany.  About  that  period,  the 
bishops  and  the  tribunals  of  the  Inquisition  were  de- 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  47 

prived  of  their  prisons  and  armed  servants,  and  steps 
were  taken  to  prevent  the  latter,  as  much  as  possible, 
from  doing  mischief  The  power  of  the  bishops  was 
hmited,  and  the  court  of  Rome  restrained  from  appoint- 
ing them  according  to  her  caprice.  The  temporal 
portion  of  the  benefices  became  dependent  on  the  pub- 
lic authority ;  opposition  was  indirectly  made  to  the 
too  frequent  transferance  of  property  into  the  hands 
of  the  clergy,  and  measures  were  taken  to  subject  any 
new  acquisitions,  which  they  might  be  enabled  to 
make,  to  the  same  changes  as  other  property  similarly 
situated. 

This  indirect  method,  however,  of  opposing  the 
Court  of  Rome,  was  soon  neutralized  by  men  so  well 
skilled  in  the  art  of  invention.  She  brought  forward 
what  she  termed  "  Ecclesiastical  Privilege," — an  ocult 
right,  comprehending  every  pretension  which  Rome 
has  put  forth  to  the  present  time,  or  which  she  may 
wish  to  put  forth  in  future.  By  means  of  this  pre- 
tended right,  it  is  impossible  to  imagine  a  single  hu- 
man action,  over  which  she  may  not  exert  her  influ- 
ence and  authority,  if  it  is  in  any  conceivable  way 
connected  with  her  interests. 

Every  thing  that  was  in  the  least  degree  inconsist- 
ent with,  or  contrary  to  this  ecclesiastical  privilege, 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  was  from  that  moment 
comprised  in  the  Bull  In  Coena,  and  anathematized. 

In  regard  to  the  laws  of  which  we  have  just  spoken; 
the  Court  of  Rome  maintained  that  they  were  null 
and  void,  because  they  had  not  been  passed  by  legiti- 
mate authority.  The  states  in  which  they  had  been 
promulgated  were  excommunicated,  laid  under  an  in- 
terdict, and  attacked  by  the  temporal  forces  of  the 
reigning  pontiffs,  or  by  the  subjects  of  other  States, 
whom  the  Court  of  Rome  had  armed  against  their  so- 
vereigns, because  these  sovereigns  had  ordered  the 
laws  passed  in  favor  of  their  subjects  to  be  put  in 
force. 

Rome  extended  in  this  way  its  despotic  authority 
over  all  the  States  of  Italy,  and  in  a  special  manner 


48  SECRETS    OF 

over  the  Republic  of  FlorencCj  until  it  adopted  the 
system  pursued  by  the  Spanish  civilians.  These  au- 
thorities, taking  the  pretensions  of  the  Court  of  Rome 
for  what  they  were,  without  any  examination  of  their 
merits,  guarded  the  Government  against  any  abuse 
which  might  result  from  them,  by  demanding  that 
every  order  or  prohibition,  and,  generally  speaking, 
every  writing  or  document  emanating  from  that  court, 
whether  of  a  spiritual  or  temporal  nature,  should  be 
subjected  to  a  censorship.  It  was  the  duty  of  the  cen- 
sors to  examine  whether  they  were  contrary  to  any 
existing  law  of  the  State,  and  to  take  care  that  they 
should  not  become  binding  until,  with  due  consent 
from  the  sovereign,  they  had  been  lawfully  published 
in  his  dominions. 

The  necessity  of  the  Exequatur^  or  legal  publica- 
tion^ is  the  basis  of  the  jurisdiction  and  rights  of  the 
Crown,  in  every  state  where  the  Roman  religion  pre- 
vails ;  and  if  the  law  were  strictly  executed,  and 
every  infraction  of  it  regularly  punished,  the  power 
of  Rome  would  cease  to  be  a  subject  of  alarm,  as  well 
as  a  source  of  mischief. 

The  Court  of  Rome  was  the  first  to  perceive  the 
consequences  which  would  necessarily  result  from  en- 
forcing this  law,  and  consequently  to  condemn  it.  It 
declared  all  those  who  ordered  its  execution,  or  who 
should  execute  it  themselves,  to  be  under  the  censures 
of  the  Bull  In  Ccena  ;  but  even  this  produced  not 
the  desired  effect,  and  Rome  was  obliged  to  tolerate 
the  existence  of  the  ExequaUir. 

All  its  cunning  is  now  employed  in  endeavoring  to 
elude  it,  which  it  sometimes  does,  even  in  the  case  of 
the  most  enlightened  Governments.  The  Govern- 
ment ought,  consequently,  to  be  always  on  its  guard, 
in  order  to  detect  its  attempts,  and  to  restrain  the 
clergy  who  abet  them. 

The  difficulty  lay  in  finding  out  in  what  way  those 
who  transgressed  the  law  of  the  Exequatur  should  be 
punished.  Extra-judicial  and  sunmiary  punishments 
would  be  unjust,  because  they  savor  so  much  of  arbi- 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  49 

trary  authority,  which  forms  no  part  of  a  sovereign's 
rights. 

Besides  summaiy  judgments  are  forcible  means, 
whicli  the  stronger  party  employs  against  the  weaker, 
because  he  cannot  proceed  against  him  in  a  legal 
manner  ;  or,  because  those  against  whom  he  puts  them 
in  practice,  are  not  liable  to  the  operation  of  the  law. 
Rucellai  consequently  does  not  judge  it  prudent  to  al- 
low, even  tacitly,  that  the  clergy  are  in  either  of  these 
predicaments ;  as  its  only  effect  would  be  to  render 
the  clergy  more  interesting  and  venerable  in  the  eyes 
of  the  people,  and  to  augment  its  authority  by  a  dimi- 
nution of  that  of  the  sovereign. 

Rucellai  was  desirous  that  the  priests  should  be 
punished  as  transgressors  of  the  national  laws,  and 
that  their  obedience  to  the  Bull  In  Ccena  should 
cease  to  operate  as  an  excuse  for  them ;  not  because  it 
was  not  published  with  the  Exequatur^  for  it  has  been 
'published  every  ichere,  is  still  jnihlisJied,  and  its  priii- 
ciples  taught  in  the  schools,  and  iiicidcated  on  peni- 
tents by  their  confessors,  but  because  it  was  demon- 
stratively unjust,  subversive  of  all  the  rights  of  sove- 
reignty, of  law,  of  good  order,  and  of  public  tranquil- 
lity. 

The  priests  who  are  the  principal  executors  of  the 
Bull  In  Ccena  in  the  penitentiary  chair,  are  only  per- 
mitted to  decide  according  to  the  orders  of  their  Bish- 
op. The  Bishop,  in  his  turn,  is  only  an  instrument  of 
the  Court  of  Rome,  and  the  wretched  slave  of  her  ca- 
price ever  since  she  succeeded,  by  means  of  false  de- 
cretals, in  changing  into  an  oath  of  fidelity  and  vas- 
salage, that  profession  of  faith  which  is  made  before 
being  admitted  a  member  of  the  Church. 

That  oath  is,  in  fact,  a  solemn  i^romise,  not  only  to 
be  unfaithful  to  one^s  lanful  sovereign,  but  even  to  he- 
tray  hhn,  as  often  as  the  interests  of  the  Court  of 
Rome  may  render  it  necessary. 

Governments,  by  allowing  such  an  oath  to  be  taken, 
thereby  recognise  it  as  obligatory. 

The  priests  who  observe  it,  by  putting  in  force  the 
5 


50  SECRETS    OF 

Bull  In  Ccena^  and  refusing  absolution  to  those  who 
violate  it,  or  who  do  not  repent  of  having  violated  it, 
are  rebels  to  the  Government  of  their  country^  which 
.has  proscribed  it ;  those  who  do  not  observe  it,  are  7ie- 
cessarily  perjuredc 

If  the  priests  who  have  to  decide  between  such  dis- 
agreeable alternatives  are  objects  of  pity,  much  more 
so  are  those  people  deserving  of  compassion,  who  con- 
sider it  their  duty  to  surrender  their  judgment  into  the 
hands  of  their  pastor. 

Rucellai  proposes,  as  a  remedy  for  all  these  contra- 
dictions, to  consider  the  Bull  Li  CcBiia  as  an  unjust 
civil  la,w,  enacted  by  the  Pope,  which  he  would  wil- 
lingly put  in  force  in  the  dominions  of  other  sove- 
reigns, and  to  forbid  its  direct  or  indirect  publication. 

It  appeared  preferable  to  Rucellai,  that,  by  a  decla- 
ration on  the  part  of  the  ecclesiastical  power  itself, 
both  the  priests  and  their  hearers  shot. Id  be  freed 
from  the  obligation,  in  for o  co?iscienti(B,  of  observing 
the  Bull ;  but  such  a  declaration  could  only  emanate 
from  the  Pope,  who  would  never  make  it,  unless  he 
were  compelled  to  it  by  an  union  of  all  the  Catholic 
Governments ;  or,  unless  he  saw  clearly,  that  it  was 
as  much  his  interest  to  annul  it,  as  it  was  formerly  his 
interest  to  establish  it,  in  despite  of  religion  and  every 
thing  that  was  sacred. 

In  the  mean  time,  it  will  be  necessary,  says  Rucel- 
lai, to  adhere  to  the  proposed  law,  which  may  be  com- 
municated to  the  Court  of  Rome,  in  order  that  it  may 
prevent  its  publication  by  the  only  means  in  its  power, 
the  abrogation  of  the  Bull.  In  the  event  of  adopting 
this  plan,  it  will  be  necessary  to  convince  the  Court  of 
Rome  that  Government  has  taken  its  determination, 
and  that  no  negotiation  or  species  of  treaty  can  take 
place  on  the  subject." 

The  order  of  the  Grand  Duke  to  suppress  entirely 
the  Bull  In  Ccena  Domini^  and  the  command  never 
to  mention  it  in  future  in  Tuscany,  became  the  law 
of  the  land.  But  this  law,  before  it  could  be  brought 
into  full  force,  had  to  be  frequently  renewed.    In  a  cir- 


FEMALE     CONVENTS.  51 

cular  letter  of  the  Secretary  of  Jurisdiction,  addressed 
to  the  bishop  of  Pistoia,  Ricci's  predecessor,  in  1772, 
it  is  asserledr  that  the  Government  had  been  apprised 
of  the  Bull  In  Ccehci^  proscribed  in  every  Catholic 
state,  being  still  affixed  to  the  sacristies  and  confes- 
sionals of  some  churches  of  the  Grand  Duchy,  and 
of  some  persons  having  had  the  hardihood  to  publish 
it  from  the  pulpit  or  the  altar,  during  the  holy  week. 

An  anecdote  relating  to  this  Bull  will  illustrate  the 
retrogression  which  every  pretended  restoration  causes 
in  the  people  under  the  dominion  of  arbitrary  legiti- 
macy. 

"In  1815,  Ruifo,  Archbishop  of  Naples,  a  relation 
of  Cardinal  Ruffo,  published  a  list  of  reserved  cases, 
among  which  were  infractions  of  the  Bull  In  Ccena 
Domini.  Ferdinand  IV.  having  been  informed  of  this 
violation  of  the  laws  of  the  kingdom,  ordered  his  mi- 
nister for  ecclesiastical  affairs  to  cause  the  list  of  re- 
served cases  to  be  suppressed  by  the  Cardinal  whose 
name  it  bore,  and  to  reprimand  in  severe  terms  the 
monk  who  had  drawn  the  prelate  by  his  perfidious 
counsels  into  such  an  act  of  disobedience,  threatening 
him  at  the  same  time  with  banishment  from  the  Nea- 
politan territory,  if  he  attempted  again  to  disturb  the 
public  tranquillity.  The  minister,  in  executing  the 
orders  of  his  sovereign,  employed  one  of  his  principal 
assistants,  Luc  Cagnazzi,  a  priest  and  archdeacon,  to 
write  to  Cardinal  Ruffo. 

After  the  fall  of  the  Neapolitan  constitutional  Gov- 
ernment, when  Ferdinand  had  been  restored  a  third 
time  to  the  plenitude  of  his  sovereign  good  pleasure, 
Luc  Cagnazzi  was  stripped  of  his  office,  solely  because 
agreeably  to  the  instructions  of  the  minister,  who 
only  obeyed  his  sovereign,  he  had  composed  the  letter 
in  question  :  his  dismissal  was  demanded  by  the  Car- 
dinal. 

We  have  given  this  abstract  of  Rucellai's  memoir, 
because  the  Bull  In  Ccena  is  actually  invoked  by  the 
Court  of  Rome  ;  because  it  regards  it  as  still  existing 
in  full  force,  and  because  it  grants  to  its  ministers, 


52  SECRETS    OF 

even  now^  power  to  absolve  those  who  might  be  weak 
enough  to  beUeve  tliat  they  had  incurred  its  penahies. 
Rucellai  adds,  that  all  that  he  has  proposed  is  merely 
a  precautionary  measure  ;  and  that  the  sole  political 
purpose  of  every  measure  relating  to  religious  juris- 
diction ought  to  be  to  put  the  clergy  on  a  level  with 
the  laity,  in  as  far  as  relates  to  the  duties  of  citizens, 
and  to  abolish  all  their  immunities,  both  real  and  per- 
sonal ;  and  while  that  end  remains  unaccomplished, 
there  will  always  be  "  a  State  within  the  State,"  and 
an  everlasting  source  of  controversy  and  dispute. 

In  order  to  attain  sooner  and  more  certainly  this 
end  in  Tuscany,  all  the  inferior  prelates  possessing 
jurisdiction,  such  as  abbots,  priors,  guardians  of  con- 
vents, (fee,  should  be  obliged  to  exhibit  their  election- 
patents,  to  obtain  their  confirmation  by  Government, 
which  should  keep  them  as  much  within  its  control  as 
possible.  They  should  be  subjected,  as  well  as  the 
bishops,  to  an  oath  of  fidelity  which  should  bring 
both  them  and  their  jurisdiction  within  the  immediate 
influence  of  the  civil  authority.  By  the  adoption  of 
these  measures,  there  will  be  nothing  to  dread  from 
those  prisons,  which  can  scarcely  be  refused  to  seve- 
ral religious  orders,  and  which  are  tolerated  by  the 
State.  The  special  point  is  to  prevent  them  from  pos- 
sessing clandestine  prisons,  which  would  be  infinitely 
worse  than  allowing  them  legal  ones ;  or  permittinof 
them  to  elude  the  prohibition  to  possess  them,  by  any  of 
those  equally  criminal  means,  which  their  immorality 
may  suggest  to  them.  In  the  present  state  of  things, 
the  superiors  of  certain  orders,  which  hold  a  middle 
rank  between  cynicism  and  stoicism,  make  frequently 
a  very  bad  use  of  their  prisons,  concerning  which  no 
regulation  has  been  made  by  the  civil  authority,  and 
which  they  nevertheless  cannot  do  without,  because 
reason  alone  is  insufiicient  to  secure  to  them  a  proper 
degree  of  respect.  It  is  therefore  an  indispensable 
duty  of  the  Government  to  keep  a  watchful  eye  on 
these  prisons,  in  order  to  insure  the  safety  of  those  in- 
dividuals who  are  obliged  to  live  under  a  despotism, 


FEMALE     CONVENTS.  63 

more  uncontrolled  and  absolute  than  that  of  an  Afri- 
can tyrant. 

The  oath  which  must  be  required  of  them  is  only 
the  means  of  recalling  to  the  minds  of  the  priests  who 
take  itj  their  natural  duties  as  citizens — duties  which 
are  born  with  them,  and  from  which  the  ecclesiastical 
profession  which  they  have  since  adopted,  cannot 
emancipate  them.  The  oath  must  be  so  clear  as  that 
those  who  conscientiously  believe  it  their  duty  to  ob- 
serve the  Bull  In  Ccena^  may  refuse  to  take  it,  and 
also  to  accept  the  bishopricks  and  preferments  which 
can  only  be  obtained  by  taking  it. 

The  sacerdotal  power  will  remain  invulnerable  as 
long  as  those  who  exercise  it  believe  that  they  have  a 
right  to  be  distinguished  by  peculiar  privileges  and 
immunities  from  their  fellow-citizens.  Every  thing 
which  reduces  them  to  a  level  with  the  laity,  dimin- 
ishes in  the  mind  of  the  public  the  idea  of  their  in- 
dependence, and  consequently  destroys  what  is  in  re- 
ality the  true  basis  of  Romish  grandeur.  The  oath 
by  which  they  will  be  bound  will  certainly  produce 
that  effect,  and  will  besides  furnish  a  strong  ground 
for  proceeding  against  them  in  case  of  their  infringing 
the  law. 

The  Court  of  Rome  will  oppose  the  taking  of  the  new 
oath ;  and  perhaps  go  so  far  as  to  prohibit  its  being 
taken  ;  allow  the  bishopricks  to  remain  vacant,  and  by 
that  means  render  the  administration  of  the  sacraments 
more  unfrequent  and  more  difficult ;  but  she  will  in 
that  case  have  to  contend  with  the  whole  body  of 
priests,  whose  preferment  and  mcrease  of  revenue,  the 
only  thing  really  interesting  to  them^  it  may  have 
been  the  means  of  checking.  If  the  Court  of  Rome 
can  once  be  convinced  that  the  Government  is  deter- 
mined not  to  yield  in  the  struggle,  nor  even  not  to  en- 
ter upon  any  negotiation  for  the  purpose  of  accommo- 
dating matters,  from  which,  by  means  of  her  usual 
chicanery,  she  could  hope  to  obtain  any  advantage ; 
she  will  give  up  the  point,  lest  she  should  lose  the 
whole  of  her  rights  in  endeavoring  to  preserve  a  part 

5* 


-i^' 


54  SECRETS  OF 

of  them.  From  the  moment  that  she  takes  such  a  step, 
the  promises  which  her  clergy  may  make  to  her,  will 
appear  to  them  only  obligatory  in  so  far  as  they  are  not 
in  opposition  to  the  oath  which  they  had  taken  to  Go- 
vernment with  the  consent  of  Rome  herself. 

During  the  five  centuries  that  Romanists  have  been 
governed  by  pontifical  authority,  the  Court  of  Rome 
has  employed  all  the  means  in  her  power  to  fix  as  an 
irrevocable  principle,  that  "  the  clergy  are  not  under 
the  authority  of  the  State  in  which  they  reside,"  and 
that  they  are  the  subjects  of  Rome  alone^  in  as  far  as 
relates  to  their  persons  and  property.  She  never  will 
dare  to  avow  such  a  principle  openly ;  all  that  she  re- 
quires is,  that  the  clergy  on  whom  she  inculcates  that 
belief  should  be  fully  persuaded  of  its  truth.  They,  on 
their  part,  pride  themselves  upon  avowing  themselves  in 
publ  ic  the  subjects  of  Government,  whenever  i  t  sui  ts  their 
interest  to  profess  it — that  is,  whenever  they  are  desirous 
either  of  bread  or  of  honors.  Rome,  on  her  part,  can- 
not condemn  the  oath  which  is  proposed,  on  the  score 
of  novelty ;  for  it  has  been  taken  in  France  and  in 
other  countries  :  nor  can  she  condemn  it  on  the  score 
of  its  being  imposed,  upon  individuals  who  are  not  sub- 
ject to  the  general  laws  of  the  kingdom ;  for  such  a 
proposition  would  be  odious  in  the  extreme,  and  rouse 
the  attention,  even  of  the  most  careless  Governments, 
to  such  unheard-of  impudence  and  audacity,  especially 
at  a  time  which  is  by  no  means  favorable  to  any  usur- 
pation on  the  part  of  Rome. 


FEMALE  CONVENTS.  55 


CHAPTER     IV. 

Anxiety  of  the  Grand-duke  to  procure  information  on  the  abuses  of  the 
Church. — Letter  from  Villensi,  pointing  out  some  necessary  changes. — 
Letter  from  a  Nun,  complaining  of  tlie  irregularities  of  her  Convent. — 
Memoir  of  RuceUai,  on  the  scandalous  conduct  of  a  Confessor. — Men- 
dicant Priests. — Abolition  of  the  privileges  of  Sanctuaries. — Letter  of 
Rucellai  on  the  abuses  of  tlie  Religious  Orders. 

The  vigilant  attention  of  Leopold  to  ecclesiastical 
abuses  in  his  dominions,  was  kept  alive  by  the  com- 
munications which  he  invited  and  received  from  pri- 
vate persons, 

Villensi,  Friar  of  Santo  Yito,  addressed  to  the  Grand- 
duke,  in  1768,  a  letter,  in  which  he  suggests  the  best 
means  of  diminishing  the  abuses  which  disgraced  the 
religious  system. 

He  requests  his  Royal  Highness  to  keep  his  name 
secret  unless  he  wishes  him  to  run  the  risk  of  being 
stoned  to  death.  He  proposes  the  extirpation  of  men- 
dicity amongst  the  priesthood,  which  would  render  the 
people  more  active  and  industrious.  The  most  vigor- 
ous and  robust  of  the  mendicants,  says  the  Prior,  might 
be  sent  to  work  in  the  marshes^  and  the  lame  and  in- 
firm deposited  in  houses  of  seclusion,  for  the  main- 
tenance of  which,  the  convents  ought  to  pay  what  they 
formerly  disbursed,  ii  we  may  believe  them,  in  the  way 
of  charities. 

He  complains  of  the  insults  offered  to  the  Councils 
of  the  Church  by  the  numerous  bulls  and  briefs  which 
are  constantly  manufactured  in  the  Datary's  office  at 
Rome,  in  favor  of  all  who  pay  for  them  ;  and  quotes, 
among  other  examples,  the  permission,  contrary  to  the 
regulations  passed  by  the  Council  of  Trent,  of  saying- 
mass  before  the  age  of  twenty-five  ;  that  of  contracting 
marriages  within  the  prohibited  degrees,  <fec.  (fcc. 

With  regard  to  the  Convents,  it  was  his  wish  that 
their  excessive  wealth  should  be  employed  for  the  be- 
nefit of  the  State,  and  the  support  of  the  indigent;  that 
the  300  crowns  per  annum  which  the  carriage  of  the 


56  SECRETS  OF 

Abbot  cost,  with  the  money  expended  on  his  domes- 
tics and  furniture,  should  be  appropriated  to  the  use  of 
the  hospitals  ;  that  the  monks  should  no  longer  go  out, 
except  in  company  with  some  one  of  their  order,  under 
pain  of  banishment ;  and  that  they  should  be  prohi- 
bited from  transacting  the  business  of  their  establish- 
ments, and  be  released  from  the  necessity  of  holding 
any  intercourse  with  the  laity,  either  male  or  female, 
in  buying  or  selling  ;  and  that  a  secular  person  attach- 
ed to  the  convents  ought  to  be  intrusted  with  the  ma- 
nagement of  these  matters,  so  as  to  allow  the  monks  to 
devote  their  attention  to  the  rules  of  their  order.  For 
the  same  reason,  the  monks  should  be  released  from 
the  spiritual  care  of  souls,  which  continually  dis- 
tracts their  attention  from  the  duties  of  their  pro- 
fession. They  must  also  be  prohibited  from  either 
demanding  or  accepting,  from  the  Court  of  Rome, 
brevets  or  privileges  which  drain  their  purses,  and  au- 
thorize  them  to  violate  their  by-laws.  Superfluity  of 
every  kind  ought  to  be  banished  from  the  churches 
and  sacristies,  the  simplicity  of  religion  only  demand- 
ing what  is  absolutely  necessary  for  the  proper  per- 
formance of  its  rites.  The  importunate  and  scan- 
dalous crowds  of  begging  friars  ought  to  be  sup- 
pressed ;  the  visits  of  generals,  vicar-generals,  pro- 
vincials and  inspectors,  which  have  always  been  a 
great  source  of  expense,  and  have  never  given  rise  to 
the  least  reform,  prohibited ;  and  no  one  allowed  to 
make  profession  in  any  order,  except  at  a  very 
advanced  age. 

It  would  also  be  highly  proper  to  suppress  six  or 
eight  convents  of  nuns,  there  are  more  than  sixty  in 
Tuscany,  and  apply  the  funds  arising  from  them  to 
the  maintenance  of  the  poor.  Those  which  remain 
ought  to  be  governed  by  a  layman,  that  their  re- 
venues, which  are  constantly  augmenting  by  addi- 
tional portions,  may  not  decrease.  It  would  be  even 
more  useful  to  dispose  of  the  property  of  the  female 
convents,  and  to  form  it  into  a  bank  ;  which,  after 
paying  twenty  per  cent,  to  government,  would  aftbrd 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  57 

them  the  two  per  cent,  which  they  were  in  the  habit 
of  drawing-  from  it. 

The  Prior  complains  bitterly  of  the  great  number  of 
priests  resident  in  Florence,  who  neither  knew^  nor 
could  do  any  thing  beyond  saying  a  mass  !  Want, 
says  he,  compels  them  to  employ  themselves  as  inten- 
dants  and  preceptors  in  large  families,  to  buy,  to  sell, 
to  manage  the  domestic  affairs  of  their  masters  ;  to 
conduct  their  children  to  the  promenade,  and  even  to 
take  charge  of  a  stable  at  so  much  per  month,  as  if 
they  were  grooms  ;  all  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  a 
benefice  from  the  family  by  which  they  are  employed. 
The  proper  method  of  remedying  such  disgraceful 
practices,  is  to  refuse  benefices  to  all  those  who  had 
descended  to  such  degrading  services.  The  poorer 
priests  might  be  allowed  to  confess  the  nuns,  after  the 
monks  had  been  deprived  of  the  office,  and  they  would 
gain  by  that  means  what  the  latter  icere  in  the  habit 
of  receiving  for  it,'  Those  ecclesiastics  who  are  con- 
stantly in  pursuit  of  honors  and  dignities ;  who  busy 
themselves  in  intrigues  to  obtain  them,  and  then 
recruit  themselves  from  the  fatigues  of  their  despicable 
intrigues  in  places  of  public  amusement ;  might  under- 
take, gratis,  the  administration  of  hospitals,  visit  them 
for  the  purpose  of  seeing  that  the  duties  were  properly 
discharged,  &c.  This  would  be  a  great  saving  to 
these  useful  establishments,  and  a  subject  of  noble 
emulation  for  the  young  priests,  who  would  thereby 
be  led  to  consider  the  practice  of  virtue  and  zeal  in  the 
cause  of  beneficence,  as  the  only  way  of  accomplishing 
their  desires. 

The  scandal  which  arises  from  those  priests,  de- 
nominated coachmen,  and  postilio?is,  dec,  from  their 
saying  mass  as  if  they  icere  running  2J0st,  and  who 
are  constantly  in  a  hurry  to  go  from  one  church  to 
another,  in  order  to  do  as  much  business  as  possible, 
ought  to  be  ended.  The  sacristies  might  also  be  served 
by  laymen,  which  would  diminish  the  useless  and 
frightful  number  of  clerks  of  the  lower  classes ;  who, 
like  the   two    hundred   clerks   of   the    Metropolitan 


58  SECRETS    OF 

Church,  waste  their  time  till  the  age  of  twenty-five, 
without  learning  any  thing,  and  then  get  themselves 
consecrated  as  a  reward  for  their  pretended  services. 
People  would  not  then  make  it  a  subject  of  remark, 
that  Florence,  out  of  a  population  of  80,000  inhabit- 
ants, maintained  3000  priests,  whilst  out  of  a  popula- 
tion of  400,000  at  Vienna,  there  are  only  300.  The 
theatres,  coffee-houses,  and  other  places  frequented  by 
monks,  would  also  be  less  encumbered  with  their 
presence. 

He  is  also  anxious  that  the  Archbishop  of  Florence 
should  keep  a  watchful  eye  on  the  tax-office  for  bulls 
and  benejices,  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  every  thing  in 
the  shape  of  arbitrary  impositions,  by  means  of  an 
invariable  rate  for  each  act  of  grace. 

He  demands  a  reform  of  the  festivals.  By  transfer- 
ring the  observance  of  the  festivals  to  the  Sunday  fol- 
lowing the  day  on  which  they  are  held,  twenty-five 
days  more  labor  could  be  performed  in  the  course  of 
the  year  ;  and  the  twenty  vigils,  which  occasion  such 
an  enormous  expense,  would  be  suppressed ;  while  the 
festivals  would  be  more  decently  observed. 

The  other  letter  to  the  Grand  Duke  exhibits,  in  a 
singular  manner,  the  enormities  committed  in  the 
female  convents  through  Tuscany.  It  was  addressed 
to  Leopold  by  a  nun  of  Castiglion  Fiorentino  ;  and 
led  the  way  to  those  investigations  of  the  scandalous 
abuses,  by  which  Ricci  subsequently  rendered  his 
ecclesiastical  career  so  remarkable. 

"  Our  convent,"  she  says,  "is  under  the  direction  of 
the  Minor  Observatines,  and  is  consequently  in  a 
state  of  the  greatest  irregularity  and  disorder.  The 
superior  and  the  old  nuns  confine  themselves  entirely 
to  their  cells,  and  occupy  themselves  in  various  em- 
ployments, without  paying  the  least  attention  to 
\  what  goes  on  between  the  other  nuns  and  those 
persons  who  have  the  privilege  of  admission  within 
the  walls  of  the  cloister.  I  had  for  a  long  tii^~ol 
served  that  the  factor  of  the  convent  carried  on  in- 
trigues with  the  young  nuns,  and  that  his  intercourse 


FEMALE    CONVENTS. 

with  one  of  them  was  indecent  in  the  extreme.  Irr 
order,  however,  not  to  form  too  hasty  and  unjust  a.  ^ 
judgment  of  them,  I  concealed  myself  in  a  neighboring^) 
apartment,  and  discovered  that  they  were  in  the  habit 
of  committing  the  most  indecent  actions.  Since  that 
time,  whenever  the  factor  makes  liis  appearance, 
always  remain,  under  pretence  of  age,  being  nearly 
fifty,  below  with  my  work,  and  walk  backwards  and 
forwards,  in  order  not  to  allow  him  an  opportunity  of 
being  alone  with  the  nuns.  The  Abbess  was  the 
means  of  engaging  that  factor,  which  she  did  almost 
by  force,  against  the  opinion  of  others  who  thought 
him  too  young.  She  is  very  angry  with  me,  and  will 
certainly  not  fail  to  punish  me  in  some  way  or  other. 

"  I  cannot  complain  to  the  Provincial ;  for  the 
monks  will  not  listen  to  any  complaints  of  the  kind. 
Their  answer  uniformly  is,  when  any  are  made,  that 
they  proceed  from  malignity  and  calumny  ;  while 
those  who  speak  to  them  concerning  them,  are  declared 
to  be  foolish,  scandalous,  and  turbulent  persons,  who 
spy  the  actions  of  others,  who  do  not  behave  like  true 
nuns,  and  who  ought  to  be  imprisoned,  etc.  The 
nuns  are  therefore  obliged  either  to  allow  such  enor- 
mous irregularities  to  go  unchecked,  or  to  run  the 
risk  of  imprisonment  for  life,  under  some  false  pretext. 
No  one  cares  whether  a  nun  remains  alone  with  the 
factor.  If  any  amusement  is  going  forward,  the  factor 
is  invited  to  the  convent,  where  he  shuts  himself  up  in 
'k  room  with  one  of  them,  and  sometimes  with  two,  if 
they  are  intimate  with  him. 

"  The  monks,  to  insure  themselves  against  dislike 
on  the  part  of  the  nuns,  overlook  the  whole ;  for  our 
confessor,  who  is  always  selected  from  that  body,  is 
supported  by  the  nans,  who  must  supply  him  with 
every  thing  which  he  desires,  during  the  time  that  he  is 
obliged  to  occupy  a  dwelling  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  convent.  Finding  themselves  well  provided  with 
every  thing  which  they  want,  these  monks  do  not  give 
themselves  the  least  trouble  about  the  abuses  which 
prevail  in  the  convents.     There  are  even  some  of  them 


I 


60  SECRETS    OF 

who  make  love  to  the  nunSj  and  render  them  much 
more  impudent  than  the  lay  members  who  are  guilty 
of  the  same  practices.  Some  years  ago,  a  monk  was 
found  in  the  convent  during  the  night,  and  expelled 
from  it  by  tlie  bailiffs.  The  affair,  in  consequence, 
became  universally  known." 

The  nun  is  of  opinion,  that  the  case  of  the  factor 
was  much  more  blameable,  inasmuch  as  his  duties 
provided  him  with  constant  opportunities  of  sinning. 
She  therefore  supplicates  the  Grand  Duke  to  order  a 
nobleman,  on  whom  the  factor  was  dependent,  to  recall 
him  to  Florence,  without  allowing  it  to  appear  that  he 
was  at  all  acquainted  with  the  irres^ularity  of  his  con- 
duct :  "  For/'  says  she,  "  if  what  1  now  write  to  you 
were  known,  it  would  be  sufficient  to  cause  me  to  be 
poisoned  by  my  companions,  who  are  totally  given  up 
to  vice."  She  requests  the  prince  to  speak  to  the  pro- 
vincial, and  to  tell  him,  that  "if  she  is  punished  under 
any  pretext  whatever,  he  will  take  from  him  the 
direction  of  the  convent,  and  transfer  it  to  the  bishop." 

The  above  letter  is  dated  May,  1770,  from  the  con- 
vent of  Jerome,  at  Castiglion  Fiorentino,  and  signed 
Lucrece  Leonide  Beroardi. 

Leopold  dismissed  the  factor.  *"*" 

The  scandalous  wickedness  of  some  members  of  (\ 
the  priesthood,  under  the  cloak  of  religion,  and  by 
perversion  of  its  authority,  was  known  to  the  grand 
duke  in  1766.     Senator  Rucehai  then  addressed  to  his 
Prince  a  memoir  relating  to  the  intrigues  of  the  Tus^ 
can  Inquisitors,  of  the  higher  orders  of  the  clergy  of 
the  Grand  Duchy,  of  the  Nunciature  at  Florence,  and 
of  the  Court  of  Rome  ;  all  of  whom  labored  in  concert 
to  elude  the  wise  laws  of  the  late  Emperor. 
''   A  lady  of  the  name  of  Maria  Catherine  Barni,  of 
Santa  Croce,  declared  on  her  death-bed  that  she  had 
been  seduced  through  the  medium  of  confession,  and 
that  she  had,  during  twelve  years,  maintained  a  crimi- 
nal intercourse  with  a  priest,  Pierre  Pacchiani,  Prior 
of  St.  Martin  at  Castel-Franco-di-Sotto,  who  was  her 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  61 


Df  X 


confessor.     She    denounced   him  to   the    Bishop   of 
Miniato,  May,  1764.  I 

He  had  assured  her  that,  by  means  of  the  super-       / 
natural  hg-ht  which  he  had  received  from  Jesus  and      / 
the  Holy  Virgin,  he  was  perfectly  certain  that  neither    / 
of  them  were  guilty  of  sin  in  carrying  on  that  corres*/ 
pondence.  '*^ 

Maria  Magdalen  Sicini,  of  Santa  Croce,  whom  she\\ 
had  pointed  out  as  being  in  the  same  predicament    ^ 
with  herself,  deposed ;  that  generally  about  an  hour      J 
after  the  confession  was  over,  Pacchiani  had  a  crimi-     / 
nal  intercourse  with  her  in  the  vestry  ;  that  she  knew^ 
well  enough  that  she  was  committing  sin,  and  that  she 
made  confession  of  it  afterwards  to  Pacchiani  himself, 
who  excused  her  because  it  had  been  done  with  good 
intentions. 

This  lady  named  another,  Yictoire  Benedetti,  who, 
at  her  examination,  made  a  declaration  to  the  same 
effect ;  only  adding,  that  she  had  not  had  the  least 
scruple  in  regard  to  her  connexion  with  Pacchiani. 

The  trial  of  that  priest  for  heretical  propositions 
belonged  properly  to  the  Inquisition ;  but,  after  much 
intrigue  and  manoeuvring,  the  affair  got  into  the  hands 
of  the  Archbishop  ;  next  into  those  of  the  Nuncio ; 
then  into  those  of  the  Court  of  Rome  ;  and  Pacchiani, 
who  had  been  dismissed,  finally  returned  to  his  parish. 

The  Government  was    made  perfectly  acquainted 
with  the  whole  transaction  ;  but  in  such  a  way  as  to 
be  unable  to  take  any  notice  of  it.     It  was  also  aware 
that  Pacchiani  had  been  guilty  of  several  disgraceful"^ 
[s;  that  he  was  in  the  habit  of  compelling  the    7^. 
dying  to  make  wills  in  his  favor,  by  threats  of  refusing   /  ' 
to  administer  the  sacraments;   that  he  had  used  his 
endeavors  to  prevent  Barni  from  making  any  confes- 
sion on   her  death-bed ;    that  his  Bishop   had   been 
obliged  to  imprison  him,  in  order  to  remove  him  from 
a  convent  of  nuns  ;  and  that  he  had  delivered  from  the 
pulpit  a  discourse  full  of  sedition.     The  Grand  Duke 
caused  him  to  be  dismissed. 

The  scandal  brought  on  the  doctrines  and  professors 
6 


62  SECRETS    OF 

■  f  of  religion,  by  the  wretchedness  and  demoraUzation  of 
I  the  mendicant  priests,  was  brought  before  the  Grand 
r\Duke  by  Rucellai,  in  1766.  He  rephed  to  the  in- 
^v;[uiries  of  his  sovereign,  by  detaiUng  various  consider- 
ations, as  to  the  best  means  of  diminishing  the  exces- 
sive number  of  those  wandering  drones,  who,  without 
either  nomination  or  benefice,  swarmed  in  Tuscany, 
■  and  especially  at  Florence,  on  account  of  the  college 
or  seminary  of  the  cathedral.  That  seminary  was 
composed  of  a  hundred  and  thirty  young  men,  who 
were  employed  in  the  service  of  the  church,  and  of 
whom  no  fewer  than  sixty-six  were  annually  conse- 
crated, as  a  reward  for  their  services.  Rucellai  was 
of  opinion  that  a  diminution  of  the  number  of  young 
men  in  the  seminary,  would  give  rise  to  a  great  out- 
cry, and  would  fail  in  accomplishing  the  end  in  view. 
It  is  the  patrimony  of  the  Church  which  we  must 
diniinish,  says  he,  if  we  wish  to  diminish  the  number 
of  those  who  live  by  it ;  and  who  would  become  dis- 
ciples of  Mohamed,  if  the  revenues  which  they  enjoy 
were  appropriated  to  Mussulmans.  A  diminution  of 
the  wealth  of  the  clergy,  under  existing  circumstances, 
was  altogether  impossible,  without  a  complete  over- 
throw of  the  political  system.  To  fix  it  definitively  in 
such  a  way  as  to  prevent  its  increase,  appeared  to  him 
extremely  difficult,  on  account  of  the  tendency  of 
every  body  of  men  towards  prosperity,  and  more  espe- 
cially of  every  sacerdotal  body;  it  being  but  too  true, 
that  superstition  and  wealth  go  hand  in  hand  together. 
The  only  part  of  this  measure  which  could  have 
been  easily  executed,  was  prohibiting  the  priests  fl^^^ 
accepting  additional  foundations  for  perpetual  masses,  ' 
which  they  increased  in  number  by  every  pious  fraud  . 
which  they  could  devise.  These  foundations  infected 
Florence,  more  than  any  other  place,  with  the  refuse 
of  the  clergy,  who  were  attracted  from  the  neigh- 
boring dioceses  by  the  profits  arising  from  the  masses. 
There  was  also  another  method  of  accomplishing 
the  object  in  view ;  to  unite  all  the  simple  benefices 
and  obligations,  &c.,  upon  which  the  useless  part  of 


FEMALE    CONV^ENTS.  63 

the  clergy  lived,  and  who,  in  this  way,  would  soon 
have  disappeared ;  but  the  consent  of  Rome  was 
necessary  to  the  adoption  of  that  measure ;  and  it 
would,  undoubtedly,  have  refused  to  co-operate  in  the 
execution  of  a  plan  contrary  to  its  policy,  prejudicial 
to  its  finances,  and  destructive  of  its  authority. 

The  Senator  r.onr.lnrlps  hv  giving  it  as  his  opinion, 
that  it  would  be  much  better  to  make  use  of  the  means 
already  at  the  disposal  of  Government, — which, 
though  they  might  be  slow  in  accomplishing  the  end 
in  view,  would  attain  it  much  more  certainly  and 
quietly; — considering  always  the  increasing  wealth  of 
the  clergy  as  an  evil  necessarily  connected  with  the 
present  system — as  a  malady  inseparable  from  the 
political  body.  For  this  purpose  it  will  be  necessary,' 
says  he,  to  oppose,  both  constantly  and  vigorously, 
that  maxim  of  the  Church,  so  contrary  to  the  Gospel, 
to  the  Councils,  and  to  the  writings  of  the  Fathers, 
"  that  the  Church  forms  a  State  within  the  State ;"  to 
treatjhe^^ersons^^aiid  property  of  ecclesiastics  in  the 
same, way  as  the  persons  and  property  of  other 
citizens ;  to  return  to  those  Christian  times,  during 
which"  the  property  of  the  Church  was  considered  as 
public  property,  belonging  to  the  State,  and  entirely  at 
the  disposal  of  the  civil  authority.  The  clergy  and 
their  property  were  not  more  dangerous  to  the  State, 
than  other  wealthy  persons  and  their  property ;  be- 
cause they  were  then  undistinguished  by  any  pre- 
rogatives, privileges,  or  immunities.  Rucellai  coun- 
selled Leopold  to  put  his  authority  in  force  ;  to  exercise 
a  real  jurisdiction  over  his  clergy,  by  exercising  it 
over  their  property ;  to  prevent  the  augmentation  of 
their  territorial  wealth,  by  applying  the  law  of  the  late 
Emperor,  concerning  the  acquisition  of  property  in 
mortmain,  which  had  already  restored  much  land  to 
commerce  and  circulation ;  to  keep  the  clergy  in 
check  by  the  dread  of  extra-judicial  and  summary 
sentences  of  banishment  and  sequestration  against 
their  persons  and  revenues  ;  and  to  avoid  endless  and 
fatal  quarrels  with  the  Court  of  Rome. 


64  SECRETS    OF 

One  of  the  greatest  abuses  of  the  power  of  the 
Church  in  Tuscany,  and  the  most  shameful  obstacle 
to  the  progress  of  civil  justice,  was  the  number  of 
asylums  reputed  sacred,  whose  privileges  had  filled 
the  churches  of  Tuscany  with  vagabonds  and  disturb- 
ances. The  Grand  Duke  was  perfectly  awai'e  of  his 
right  and  authority  to  abolish  this  abuse,  without  the 
consent  or  intervention  of  any  one  ;  but  he  was  willing 
to  concede,  and  proposed  a  concordat,  which  should 
confer  upon  him  the  same  privileges  which  had  been 
bestowed  on  the  other  Catholic  powers,  or  the  adoption 
of  some  provisional  measure.  He  was  determined  not 
to  suffer  any  longer,  in  his  dominions,  disorders  which 
Rome  herself,  notwithstanding  her  desire  to  protect 
them  in  those  of  others,  would  not  tolerate  in  her 
own ;  and  which,  being  beneficial  to  criminals  only, 
were  a  disgrace  both  to  religion  and.  to  the  Govern- 
ment. A  memoir  of  Rucellai,  of  1764,  shows  that 
Tuscany  was  completely  filled  with  churches.  Flo- 
rence alone  reckoned  320,  of  which  the  farthest  from 
one  another  were  not  above  300  paces  ;  they  occupied 
one  half  of  the  ground  which  had  been  built  upon  in 
the  town,  and  had  enjoyed  for  more  than  163  years 
all  the  privileges  granted  by  the  Bulls  of  the  different 
Popes. 

Leopold  caused  the  reflections  which  Rucellai  had 
made  on  the  concordats  concluded  by  Rome,  relative 
to  asylums,  with  Naples  in  1741,  with  Sardinia  and 
Piedmont  in  1742,  and  with  Austria  for  the  states  of 
Lombardy  in  1757,  to  be  submitted  to  his  considera- 
tion. The  inconveniences  of  those  concordats,  and  of 
every  concordat  whatsoever,  by  means  of  which  the 
Court  of  Rome  succeeded  in  procuring  from  sovereigns 
a  recognition  of  the  legality  of  the  pretended  rights 
which  are  the  object  of  the  treaty,  are  clearly  pointed 
out  in  that  document.  Rucellai  preferred  to  these 
different  concordats,  the  scheme  of  a  provisional  regu- 
lation presented  by  the  Abbe  Neri. 

That  scheme,  which  received  Leopold's  consent  did 
not  admit  of  the  inviolability  of  the  asylums  in  any 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  65 

case  whatever ;  but  provided  for  the  remission  of 
capital  and  mutilating  punishments,  in  the  case  of 
those  who  might  be  taken  from  the  asylums ;  and  also, 
for  the  remission  of  a  third  part  of  every  other  punish- 
ment of  a  lesser  degree.  By  this  means  the  objection 
was  removed  which  existed  in  regard  to  the  exceptions 
and  explanations  admitted  in  the  concordats ;  excep- 
tions of  which  the  tortuous  policy  of  the  Court  of 
Rome,  which  decided  upon  them,  enabled  her  always 
to  take  advantage,  and  of  which  she  never  permitted 
any  one  to  foresee  the  intention. 

The  abolition  of  capital  punishments  would  certainly, 
says  Rucellai,  have  displeased  those  who  work  upon 
punishment  as  the  basis  of  all  government,  and  the  main 
spring  of  every  political  system.  Neri  observes  that 
capital  punishments  had  been  dispensed  with  in  several 
States,  without  the  least  inconvenience  ;  and  that  it  is 
the  certainty  of  punishment  and  not  the  measure  of  it, 
which  restrains  mankind  within  the  line  of  their  duty, 
and  checks  the  commission  of  crime. 

The  Grand  Duke,  in  consequence,  gave  orders  to 
Baron  Odile,  his  minister  at  Rome,  to  commence  nego- 
tiations on  this  subject  with  zeal  and  promptitude,  and 
not  to  rest  satisfied  either  with  the  words,  or  the  dila- 
tory and  uncertain  promises,  with  which  that  court 
always  colors  its  refusals.  The  reiterated  orders  and 
numerous  couriers  of  Leopold  could  not,  however,  get 
any  thing  satisfactory  from  the  Cardinal  Secretary  of 
State,  to  whom  he  caused  it  to  be  announced,  that  if 
he  would  not  condescend  upon  a  clear  and  categorical 
answer,  he  was  determined  to  proceed  with  it.  "-^ 

The  court  of  Rome  in  spite  of  the  continued  remon-\ 
strances  of  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  evaded  for  / 
several  years  any  settlement  of  the  question  of  asyluni^ 
Leopold  at  last  determined  to  act  for  himself ;  and  tne 
year  1769  was  remarkable  for  the  great  reform  intro- 
duced by  him,  which  at  length  restored  to  Justice  both 
the  strength  and  the  liberty  which  she  required  for  th« 
prevention  of  crime,  by  the  salutary  terrors  of  unavoid- 
able punishment,  and  re-established  order  and  security 

6* 


66  SECRETS    OF 

in  his  States,  under  the  protection  of  impartial  laws, 
which  allowed  neither  privilege  nor  exemption. 

The  Grand  Duke  who  had  communicated  to  the 
Court  of  Austria  the  documents  which  related  to  the 
diiferences  existing  between  him  and  the  Pope  in 
regard  to  asylums,  and  the  plan  which  he  had  formed 
for  repairing  the  mischief  which  the  inviolability  of 
these  refuges  had  engendered,  received  the  approbation 
of  the  Empress  ;  and  consequently,  he  informed  the 
Court  of  Rome,  that  he  had  caused  the  malefactors  in 
his  dominions  to  be  taken  from  the  asylums  and 
immured  in  prisons. 

On  the  same  day  his  plan  was  put  in  execution  at 
Florence,  at  Sienna,  and  at  Grosseto,  and  the  next  day 
in  the  rest  of  the  Grand  Duchy. 

Leopold,  surrounded  with  the  most  learned  and 
enlightened  persons  in  Tuscany,  and  well  skilled 
himself  in  ecclesiastical  history,  was  perfectly  aware 
that  during  the  first  nine  centuries  of  the  Church,  the 
clergy  took  no  part  in  civil  matters  beyond  the  inter- 
cession of  the  bishops  and  priests  with  the  Supreme 
Authority,  for  some  diminution  of  the  punishment 
incurred  by  criminals. 

The  decree  of  Gratian  was  the  first  which  claimed  , 
for  the  ecclesiastical  body  the  power  of  judging  per- 
sons who  were  accused  of  crimes  ;  but  it  was  not  till 
1591,  that  Gregory  XIV.   originated  the  abuse   and 
scandal  of  asylums,  by  pointing  out  eight  crimes  to ; 
which  that  privilege  could  not  be  accorded,  and  by\ 
ordaining    that    the    ecclesiastical    tribunals    should 
thenceforth  finally   decide   whether   those   who    had 
taken  refuge  were  or  were  not  within  the  excepted 
cases. 

The  privilege  of  asylums  was  every  where  dimin- 
ished :  in  France,  even  in  the  time  of  Leopold,  the 
Church  did  not  interfere  in  behalf  of  criminals ;  and 
in  Germany  very  seldom.  In  the  Low  Countries,  as 
well  as  in  Italy,  very  vigorous  measures  had  been 
taken  to  do  away  with  the  abuse,  which  nevertheless 
has  always  been  more  slow  in  these  cases  than  other 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  67 

Catholic  countries,  on  account  of  its  propinquity  to 
Rome.  Venice  had,  however,  given  the  example,  and 
it  had  been  followed  by  Lombardy,  Turin,  Parma, 
Naples,  and  even  by  the  Pontifical  States. 

Tuscany,  therefore,  was  the  only  country  in  which 
the  most  atrocious  crimes,  as  well  as  the  most  trifling 
offences,  remained  not  only  unpunished,  but  even  en- 
couraged and  protected  by  the  privilege  of  the  churches. 
Assassins,  fratricides,  poisoners,  incendiaries,  deserters, 
robbers,  sons  of  the  nobility  who  wished  to  withdraw 
themselves  from  paternal  authority ;  monks  who  had 
subjected  themselves  to  punishment  from  their  supe- 
riors, or  soldiers  from  their  officers  ;  those  who  had 
contracted  debts,  (fee.  &c. — all  took  refuge  in  the  same 
asylum,  were  all  equally  well  received,  and  lived  in  a 
state  of  the  greatest  disorder.  x^ 

They  frequently  disturbed  the  performance  of  divine  '-^ 
service,  and  often  maltreated  the  clergy  ;  committed 
crime  after  crime,  insulted  and  even  wounded  those 
who  attended  the  church,  where  they  had  been  receiv- 
ed without  shame,  and  were  supported  and  openly  de- 
fended. There  they  kept  a  school  for  the  instruction 
of  the  young  in  robbery  and  swindling,  sold  contra- 
band goods  and  stolen  wares.  They  had  prostitutes 
among  them,  slept  pele-mele  under  the  porticoes,  and 
not  unfrequently  had  children  born  to  them  during  the 
time  that  they  remained  in  the  asylum.  They  ate, 
drank,  worked  at  their  trades,  and  kept  open  shop  in 
the  churches.  They  wore  concealed  arms,  arrested 
the  passengers  in  order  to  ransom  them,  and  fired  at  , 
the  agents  of  the  police  if  they  happened  to  pass  byy^ 
They  sallied  out  secretly  to  commit  fresh  robberies 
and  assassinations,  and  returned  within  the  sanctuary 
of  the  church,  in  order  to  enjoy,  without  fear,  the  pro- 
tection which  the  temple  and  its  ministers  granted 
them. 

The  convents  ivere,  hoicever^  the  greatest  recepta- 
cles of  criminals,  whom  the  monks  treated  remarkably 
well,  on  account  of  the  benefit  which  they  derived  from 
their  domestic  labors,  and  because  they  could  use  them 


# 


68  SFX'RETS    OF 

as  instruments  for  the  commission  of  those  frauds  which 
they  were  desirous  of  executing,  and  as  apologies  for 
those  of  which  they  loere  themselves  guilty^  and  which 
they  failed  not  to  ]3lace  to  the  credit  of  their  guests. 
They  employed  them  particularly  in  contraband  trade 
for  the  use  of  the  convent. 

A  short  time  previous  to  the  reform  of  the  asylum, 
the  monks  of  the  convent  of  Spirito,  at  Florence,  car- 
ried their  impudence  so  far,  as  to  allot  a  chamber 
among  the  novices  to  a  robber  who  had  attempted  to 
kill  his  own  brother. 

'  Such  was  the  deplorable  state  of  that  beautiful  part 
of  Italy,  There  were,  on  the  suppression  of  the  asy- 
lums, eighty  refugees,  of  whom  a  third  had  been  guilty 
of  wilful  murder,  and  the  rest,  either  for  cutting  or 
maimiug  the  inhabitants,  or  of  committing  extensive 
robberies.  Several  of  them  had  made  their  escape  from 
the  galleys. 

It  was  determined,  in  consequence,  not  to  allow  them 
any  longer  the  privilege  of  asylum,  and  a  law  was 
passed,  which  enjoined  the  public  authority  to  seize, 
for  the  future,  every  refugee,  in  whatever  asylum  he 
might  be  found — civil  debtors,  not  fraudulent  bank- 
rupts, only  excepted — and  to  carry  him  before  the 
ordinary  tribunals,  for  the  purpose  of  being  sentenced, 
if  sufficient  cause  was  shown,  to  ten  years'  confinement 
in  irons,  in  case  of  his  crime  deserving  capital  punish- 
ment ;  to  five,  if  it  deserved  ten ;  and  so  on,  always 
mitigating  the  punishment,  out  of  regard  to  the  spot 
on  which  he  had  been  apprehended.  This  was  the 
only  method  of  managing  the  affair,  so  as  to  preserve 
the  rights  of  the  sovereign  entire,  to  show  respect  for 
the  privileges  of  the  churches,  and  to  put  an  end  to 
irregularities  and  crimes,  w^hich  the  honor,  the  dignity, 
and  even  the  conscience  of  the  prince,  forbade  him  to 
tolerate  any  longer. 

Another  document  illustrative  of  the  ecclesiastical^j^ 
condition  of  Tuscany,  before   the   administration  of 
Ricci,  contains  some  curious  details  of  abuses,  both 
as  it  regards  the  number  and  discipline  of  the  religious 


^, 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  69 

orders.  It  is  a  letter  of  Rucellai,  December,  1770, 
written  in  reply  to  some  questions  which  the  Grand 
Dake  had  addressed  to  him. 

Leopold  had  requested  him  to  make  out  plans,  1,  for 
diminishing  as  quickly  as  possible  the  number  of  con- 
vents m  Tuscany,  and  of  the  individuals  inhabiting 
them,  and  also  for  preventing  foreigners  from  becoming 
inmates  of  them ;  2,  for  the  prevention  of  religious 
vows,  at  an  earlier  age  than  twenty-four  years  ;  3,  for 
prohibiting  mendicants  of  religious  orders  from  receiv- 
ing novices  before  the  age  of  sixteen  or  eighteen  ;  4,  for 
suppressing  all  convents  of  mendicant  orders  contain- 
ing fewer  than  twelve  persons ;  5,  for  enabling  the 
secular  priests  only,  and  especially  the  curates,  to 
preach  in  the  country,  and  for  preventing  the  monks 
from  exercising  that  function  ;  6,  for  excluding  the 
monks  from  the  direction  of  female  convents,  which 
ought  to  be  regulated  in  spiritual  matters  by  the  ordi- 
naries only. 

Rucellai  says  in  reply : — "  The  support  and  duration 
of  religious  orders  depend  partly  on  the  success  of  the 
monks  in  procuring  recruits,  and  partly  on  the  interest 
which  families  have  in  supplying  them  with  them. 
This  could  not  possibly  be  the  case  if  perpetual  vows 
were  not  taken  at  so  early  an  age  as  sixteen  ;  at  an 
age  which  has  no  safeguard  either  against  seduction 
or  violence.  The  monks  accordingly  showed  them- 
selves particularly  anxious,  at  the  Council  of  Trent, 
to  retain  this  privilege,  in  order,  as  they  said,  to  pre- 
vent the  destruction  of  the  monastic  establishments. 

This  avowal,  on  their  part,  points  out  the  line  of 
conduct  which  ought  to  be  adopted  by  Government : 
for  as  the  vows  which  the  individual  takes  upon  him, 
deprive  him  of  various  rights  which  he  formerly  pos- 
sessed, and  free  him,  much  to  the  prejudice  of  his  fellow- 
citizens  and  of  his  country,  according  to  the  tenor  of 
'  e  Canon  law,  from  the  performance  of  various  duties 
which  he  was  bound  to  discharge  to  society,  the  tem- 
poral or  civil  power  onght  to  regulate  every  thing 
relating  to  solemn  vows  and  professions,  in  the  same 


70  SECRETS    OF 

manner  that  it  regulates  all  other  civil  acts,  and  to 
limit  and  modify  them  agreeably  to  what  its  existence 
and  its  interests  appear  to  require. 

It  is  absolutely  necessary  that  the  sovereign  should 
have  it  in  his  power  to  prohibit  the  putting  on  of  the 
religious  habit  without  his  express  permission.  Rome, 
however,  has  always  opposed  such  an  exercise  of  au- 
thority, to  the  utmost  of  her  power.  She  saw  clearly 
that  the  establishment  of  such  a  regulation  would,  in 
the  end,  destroy,  or  at  least  greatly  weaken,  her  reli- 
gious communities,  "  which  she  justly  regards  as  so 
many  collective  bodies  of  her  subjects ;  as  armed  le- 
gions, which  she  maintains  abroad  at  the  expense  of 
the  countries  in  which  they  so  blindly  execute  her  or- 
ders. These  orders  she  veils  with  the  mantle  of  reli- 
gion, and  has  the  art  of  getting  them  as  well  executed 
by  those  to  whom  she  intrusts  them,  as  if  they  had 
a  personal  interest  in  doing  what  not  unfrequently 
exposes  them  to  all  the  vengeance  of  their  Govern- 
ments." 

Rome  will  be  just  as  clamorous  against  the  adoption 
of  any  measures  for  regulating  the  time  and  mode  of 
taking  Vows,  as  if  these  measures  were  offensive  to  the 
Almighty  himself. 

Rucellai  would  not  fix  any  age,  as  the  lawful  one, 
for  the  solemn  profession  of  vows,  unless  Rome  con- 
sented to  it ;  this  he  does  not  believe  that  she  would 
do,  even  though  she  were  compelled,  for  the  purpose 
of  giving  a  refusal,  to  recognise  the  superior  authority 
of  the  Council  of  Trent,  to  which  she  would  probably 
have  recourse  under  such  circumstances,  although  she 
has  violated  its  decisions  in  so  many  others.  The  ul- 
terior obligation  of  vows,  taken  canonically  at  the  age 
of  sixteen,  would  therefore  still  remain;  while  the  sove- 
reign would  only  have  succeeded  in  obliging  his  sub- 
jects to  deceive  him. 

He  proposes  to  prohibit  the  adoption  of  the  ecclesi-. 
astical  and  religious  habit,  under  any  pretext  whatever, 
before  the  age  of  twenty-one. 

Children  who  submit  to  the  tonsure  at  the  age  of 


'A 


( 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  71 

seven,  and  young  people  who  enter  the  convent  at  fif- 
teen, although  not  bound  by  any  particular  obligation, 
do  not  afterwards  leave  off  their  religious  profession. 
"  That  profession,  in  the  present  state  of  things,  is  onei 
which  is  expressly  made  for  those  whom  circumstances  \ 
had  designed  for  a  life  of  industry ;  namely,  for  the  i 
great  mass  of  mankind.    From  the  age  of  seven  or  ten,  ( 
till  twenty-four,  young  people,  destined  for  profession, 
are  only  taught  the  service  of  the  church,  a  little  Latin, 
and  some  theolog-ical  defmitions — a  kind  of  knowledo^e 
which  cannot  be  exchanged  to  much  pecuniary  advan- 
tage, except  by  the  clergy.''     They  must  embrace  this 
profession,  therefore,  either  voluntarily  or  by  force  ; 
and  even  when  they  are  totally  incapable,  and  thei 
conduct  has  been  such  as  to  render  them  utterly  un 
worthy  of  being  admitted  into  it,  the  bishops,  through 
compassion  for  them  and  their  family,  make  no  scruple 
in  letting  them  pass. 

One  might  almost  say,  that  they  had  become  monks 
or  priests,  from  the  very  moment  they  put  on  the  livery 
of  the  Church,  which,  by  depriving  them  of  all  other 
means  of  making  a  livelihood,  necessarily  condemns 
them  to  the  exercise  of  the  ecclesiastical  profession. 
Thus  they  have  bound  themselves  to  become  priests 
when  they  should  be  of  age  to  embrace  the  profession, 
in  the  same  way  as  an  apprenticed  mason,  by  exercis- 
ing his  trade  in  his  early  years,  binds  himself  to  it  for 
the  rest  of  his  life.  Rucellai  shows  that  his  scheme, 
so  fit  for  rooting  out,  at  a  single  blow,  the  whole  of  the 
inferior  clergy — the  greatest  part  of  the  ecclesiastical 
hierarchy — would  give  great  offence  to  the  Court  of 
Rome,  terrify  the  people,  and  be  productive  of  embar- 
rassment to  the  Government. 

In  regard  to  diminishing  the  number  of  nuns,  he  is 
of  opinion,  that  nothino-  can  be  done  in  that  way 
without  previously  facilitating  marriages,  or  having 
procured  for  women  some  middle  resource  between 
marriage  and  religious  profession — a  resource  which 
did  not  exist  in  Tuscany.  The  Government  will  there- 
fore be  obliged  to  rest  contented,  with  prohibiting  the 


^ 


72  SECRETS    OF 

superiors  from  receiving  more  novices  than  they  have 
the  means  of  supporting,  the  number  of  which  ought 
to  be  fixed ;  as  well  as  from  receiving  any  portion 
alons:  with  them  at  the  time  of  taking^  the  vows. 

If  the  sole  question  relate  to  diminishing  the  number 
of  monks,  great  care  ought  to  be  taken  in  endeavoring 
to  accomplish  that  object,  lest  the  means  employed 
should  have  any  tendency  to  fill  the  Tuscan  convents 
with  foreign  monks  ;  to  incite  the  Tuscans  to  adopt 
the  profession  elsewhere  ;  or,  finally,  to  prevent  young 
students  from  other  countries  from  repairing  for  their 
education  to  the  Tuscan  monasteries. 

The  step  which  ought  to  be  adopted,  is  to  cause  an 
^xact  account  to  be  given  of  the  temporal  wealth  of 
^he  monks ;  and  when  that  has  been  procured,  to  fix 
the  precise  number  of  individuals  whom  they  are  able 
*  to  maintain,  and,  consequently,  to  receive  in  each  es- 
tablishment. This  ought  to  be  accompanied  by  an 
order  to  observe  strictly  the  injunctions  of  the  Bulls, 
the  rules,  and  institutes  of  the  different  orders ;  by 
which  means  those  small  convents  in  the  country, 
which  are  prohibited  by  the  Bulls,  and  which,  besides 
being  totally  useless  to  religion,  are  a  source  of  scandal 
to  the  people,  and  of  impoverishment  to  a  very  valuable 
class  of  the  community,  the  villagers,  will  be  at  length 
abolished.  The  funds  arising  from  this  source  ought, 
whatever  may  be  the  clamors  of  the  Court  of  Rome, 
to  be  appropriated  to  beneficent  institutions,  as  is  the 
case  at  Venice  and  other  places. 

There  are  various  religious  orders  who  live  solely  by 
begging  alms  ;  such  as  the  Capuchins,  the  Observan- 
tines,  the  Barefooted  Carmelites,  the  Augustinians,  and 
others,  who,  though  originally  mendicants,  scarcely 
retain  any  trace  of  their  profession,  beyond  the  mere 
name  and  the  pontifical  privilege  attached  to  it.  Francis 
intended  his  disciples  to  live  by  the  labor  of  their  hands, 
and  only  to  implore  the  aids  of  charity  when  they 
found  themselves  unable  to  earn  what  w^as  necessary 
for  their  subsistence.  The  Pope  and  the  theologians 
declared,  that  the  only  labor  which  had  been  ordained 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  73 

for  them  was  entirely  spiritual ;  while  the  Council  of 
Trent,  departing  from  the  strictness  of  their  rule,  gave 
them  power,  like  the  rest  of  the  mendicant  orders,  the 
Capuchins  and  Observantines  only  excepted,  to  acquire 
and  possess  property.  The  income  of  those  monks 
must  be  exactly  ascertained,  by  calculating  the  product 
arising  from  their  masses,  the  charities  which  they  re- 
ceive, and  the  profit  accruing  from  the  direction  of  the 
convents.  When  that  has  been  done,  their  numbers 
must  be  restrained,  and  every  species  of  begging,  espe- 
cially in  the  country,  forbidden,  as  well  as  all  the  pious 
frauds  which  they  employ  in  the  churches  for  making 
money ;  such  as  enrolment  in  the  third  order,  devotion 
to  the  name  of  Jesus,  to  Anthony,  &c. 

Wherever  the  existing  revenues  are  found  insufficieni 
to  maintain  such  a  number  of  those  parasitical  plants 
as  it  may  have  been  deemed  necessary  to  support,  not- 
withstanding the  progress  of  civilization,  Rucellai  ad- 
vised the  Government  to  make  up  the  deficiency  by 
means  of  pensions.  Society  will  thus  purchase,  says 
he,  by  the  sacrifice  of  a  small  sum  of  money,  a  deliver- 
ance from  the  dangerous  influence,  both  in  a  moral 
and  political  point  of  view,  to  whch  the  scandalous 
beggary  of  the  clergy  subjects  it.  Besides,  by  giving 
them  a  pension,  the  Government  will  acquire  an  au- 
thority over  them,  which  it  never  could  have  obtained 
in  any  other  way,  and  will  have  the  power  to  diminish 
their  numbers  as  it  may  deem  proper,  by  diminishing 
their  salaries." 


74  SECRETS    OF 


CHAPTER     V. 

Examination  of  Ricci  before  Pius  VI. — Ricci  in  his  Dioccss. — Disorderg 
of  the  Dominicans. — Disputes  of  Ricci  with  the  Dominicans  on  th 
subject  of  their  Convents. — Contests  with  the  Ex- Jesuits. — Superstition 
of  the  Sacred  Heart. — Difl'erent  attempts  at  Reform. 


rg      1 


Ricci  underwent  the  customary  examination  of  a 
bishop  before  Pius  VI.  The  ceremony  appears  to 
have  been  very  disagreeable  to  him,  for  he  afterwards 
repeatedly  complained  of  its  humiliating  nature,  and 
of  the  conduct  of  the  Court  of  Rome  in  insisting  on 
this  and  similar  things,  to  bring  the  bishops  more  com- 
pletely under  its  authority.  In  this  examination  the 
tjandidates  for  episcopal  orders  are  obliged  to  be  on 
their  knees,  in  the  midst  of  a  numerous  assembly, 
presided  over  by  the  Pope,  while  the  examining 
prelates,  chosen  from  the  regular  priests,  ques- 
tion them.  Ricci  says  :  "Whoever  knows  the  formal- 
ities, knows  that  the  examiners  communicate  the 
questions  beforehand,  and  even  tell  them  from  what 
author  they  wish  the  answers  to  be  taken  ;  because 
they  have  no  less  fear  of  being  themselves  embarrass- 
ed, and  making  a  sorry  appearance  before  the  assem- 
bly, than  the  examined  can  have  ;  who,  if  he  blunder 
a  little,  is  always  sure  of  being  excused."  The  cere 
mony  of  his  consecration,  as  Bishop  of  Pistoia  and 
Prato,  took  place  on  the  24th  of  Jane,  1780. 

Prato  had  formerly  been  divided  from  Pistoia.  "At 
the  commencement  of  the  seventeenth  century,"  says 
Ricci,  "  during  the  discussions  on  the  dismemberment 
of  the  diocese  of  Pistoia,  the  city  of  Prato  was  scarce- 
ly recovered  from  the  frightful  pillage  which  it  had 
suifered,  Avhen  it  was  taken  by  the  sokiiers  led  by  the 
Cardinal  John  de  Medici,  afterwards  Leo  X.,  against 
his  country,  the  Republic  of  Florence,  This  Cardi- 
nal, who  was  as  bad  a  citizen  as  he  was  a  cruel  in- 
strument of  the  projects  of  Julius  11.  whom  he  served 
as  legate,  placed  himself,  it  is  said,  at  a  short  distance 
from  the  city,  whilst  the   soldiers  assaulted  it.     He 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  75 

there  ran  great  risk  of  being-  killed  by  a  shot  from  a 
culverin,  which  struck  the  window,  from  which,  Uke 
another  Nero,  he  enjoyed  the  frightful  spectacle. 
Even  in  my  time  they  exhibited  to  the  curious,  in  the 
convent  of  Anne,  near  Prato,  both  the  window  and  a 
part  of  the  wall  broken  by  the  shot.  They  show  also, 
in  the  middle  of  the  court  of  the  ancient  house  of  the 
Provosts,  Avhich  I  afterwards  used  as  my  episcopal  re- 
sidence, a  lar^e  well,  now  filled  up,  which  is  recorded 
to  have  swallowed  up  about  six  hundred  innocent  vic- 
tims to  the  fury  of  the  soldiers,  as  well  women  as 
children  and  old  men,  which  the  sanctity  of  the 
church,  in  which  they  had  taken  refuge,  could  not 
save  from  the  massacre.  Their  bodies,  dragged  away 
from  the  precincts  of  the  temple,  had  been  heaped  to- 
gether, like  the  flesh  of  the  shambles,  and  were  thrown 
into  this  horrible  grave,  till  it  became  necessary  has- 
tily to  clear  the  place  of  so  many  carcasses,  when 
the  victor  Cardinal  was  about  to  make  his  triumphant 
entry.  That  prince  of  the  church,  by  a  rare  act  of 
generosity,  granted  his  pardon  to  a  small  number  of 
unhappy  wretches,  who  remained  alive  after  that  fear- 
ful catastrophe." 

Ricci  had  not  yet  gone  to  Pistoia,  when  he  learned 
that  a  canon  of  that  city  had  been  imprisoned  for 
robbery ;  and  before  leavins^  Florence,  he  obtained  an 
order  from  the  Grand  Duke,  that  the  culprit  should 
be  shut  up  in  his  convent  to  do  penance  there.  By 
this  means  he  avoided  a  proceeding  which  would 
have  been  scandalous  to  the  clergy. 

His  first  care,  on  arriving  at  Pistoia,  was  to  employ 
all  the  means  in  his  power  to  reform  the  Dominican 
nuns  of  the  convent  of  Lucia.  Before  his  time,  the 
Bishop  Alamanni  had  been  obliged,  in  1764,  to  take 
the  spiritual  management  of  the  convents  of  Cathe- 
rine and  Lucia  at  Pistoia  into  his  own  hands,  on  ac- 
count of  the  disorders  reisfning  in  them.  He  had  re- 
ceived the  express  order  of  his  Government  to  do  so, 
and  had  obtained  the  consent  of  th6  uoUege  of  Cardi- 
nalsj  the  See  of  Rome  being  at  that  time  vacant.     He 


76  SECRETS    OF 

deemed  it  necessary,  at  the  same  time,  to  remove  from 
the  convent  the  Dominican  monks,  who  had  been 
their  former  directors.  The  nnns  of  Lucia  were  so 
mnch  aifected  by  this  unexpected  attack,  that  he  never 
could  succeed  in  reducing-  them  to  obedience.  After 
his  death,  the  Bishop  Ippohti,  for  four  entire  years  la- 
bored in  vain  for  the  accomphshment  of  the  same  ob- 
ject. These  unhappy  victims  of  monachal  seduction 
obstinately  refused  to  listen  to  the  authority  of  their 
pastor  ;  and  some  of  them  preferred  giving  up  the 
sacraments  altogether,  to  receiving  them  from  the 
hands  of  the  secular  or  regular  clergy,  whom  the 
Bishop  had  marked  out  to  administer,  after  the  Prince 
had  prohibited  the  Dominicans  from  approaching 
them.  There  was  among  them  a  novice  who  never 
would  make  her  vows  before  the  Bishop,  because  she 
would  not  promise  obedience  to  any  one  but  the  Gen- 
eral of  the  Dominicans. 

When  Ricci  complained  at  Rome  of  these  disorders 
to  the  Pope,  and  avowed  his  suspicions  that  the  monks 
alone  were  the  cause  of  so  much  obstinacy  on  the 
part  of  the  nuns  :  "  Can  you  doubt  it  ?"  said  Pius  YI, ; 
and  immediately  afterwards  he  uttered  a  violent  sally 
against  the  General  of  the  Dominicans,  whom  he 
painted  as  a  troublesome  and  obstinate  man.  He 
charged  Ricci  to  assure  the  nuns,  that  it  was  his  for- 
mal intention  to  leave  them,  for  the  future,  subject  to 
their  bishop,  and  not  to  the  friars ;  and  that  they 
should  have  no  scruple,  on  account  of  the  obedience 
which  they  had  promised  to  their  General. 

Fortified  by  this  pontifical  authority,  the  new  Bish- 
op gradually  brought  the  Dominican  nuns  under  his 
jurisdiction  ;  made  them  accept  a  new  confessor,  and 
even  prevailed  upon  the  novice  to  make  her  vows.  He 
confesses,  however,  that  there  was  need  of  constant 
vigilance  to  guard  against  the  underhand  intriguing 
of  the  Dominican  friars. 

In  Prato,  he  abridged  their  power,  and  made  them 
submit  to  his  episcopal  jurisdiction  ;  but  the  affront 
which  wounded  them  to  the  quick,  was  an  order 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  77 

which  he  issued,  that  no  friar  should  go  into  a  convent 
of  nuns,  unless  solely  in  case  of  necessity,  and  always 
with  surplice  and  stole,  to  administer  the  sacraments. 
They  used  every  effort  to  obtain  the  repeal  of  that 
order. 

The  Jesuits,  though  abolished  as  a  body,  still  kept 
up  their  intrigues.  With  that  zealous  and  pertinacious 
sect  Ricci  had  a  violent  dispute,  on  a  superstitious  ob- 
servance, called,  the  Devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart  of 
Jesus  !  That  order  had  always  been  very  zealous  in 
the  cause  of  candidates.  Pope  Clement  XIII.  had 
supported  them  ;  but  Clement  XIY.  utterly  destroyed 
their  plans.  The  Jesuits  at  Pistoia  had  sounded  Ricci 
on  his  inclinations  with  respect  to  this,  their  favorite 
devotion,  while  he  was  at  Rome.  A  man  at  Prato 
had  wished  to  establish  an  annual  festival,  to  found  a 
perpetual  mass,  and  to  obtain  indulgences  in  honor  of 
the  Sacred  Heart.  Cardinal  Rezzonico  granted  the 
request,  and  sent  a  brief  to  that  effect  to  Prato,  whence 
it  was  returned  by  the  Pro-vicar  to  Ricci,  who  kept  it 
in  his  hands,  without  giving  it  currency. 

The  first  abortive  attempt  was  followed  by  a  sec- 
ond, after  he  had  taken  possession  of  his  bishopric. 
In  April,  1781,  he  was  at  Prato  on  occasion  of  the 
soletnn  benediction  of  several  hells  destined  for  the  ca- 
thedral of  that  city.  When  he  came  into  the  church, 
and  at  the  very  moment  of  commencing  the  office  pre- 
scribed for  that  superstitious  ceremony,  he  was  warned 
that  it  was  intended  to  deceive  him ;  but  there  was  no 
time  to  inform  him  in  what  the  snare  laid  against  him 
consisted.  Accustomed  to  the  intrigues  of  priests,  he 
promised  that  he  would  not  let  himself  be  surprised; 
and  suspecting  that  some  fraud  lurked  under  the  re- 
quest that  he  should  baptize  the  largest  of  the  bells  in 
honor  of  Jesus  Christ,  he  refused  to  do  it.  The  pre- 
text he  alleged  was,  that  as  all  bells  were  dedicated  to 
God,  there  was  no  need  of  a  particular  ceremony  for 
that,  and  he  gave  the  bell  the  name  of  Stephen,  the 
patron  of  the  town.  When  the  office  was  concluded, 
he  went  to  admire  the  workmanship  of  the  new  bells, 


78  SECRETS    OF 

in  order  to  have  time  to  examine  them ;  and  he  dis- 
covered under  the  garland  of  flowers  with  which  the 
principal  bell  was  rather  covered,  than  ornamented, 
the  inscription  In  honorem  &'S.  Cordis  Jesu.  At  the 
sight  of  this  he  conld  not  contain  his  indignation  ;  he 
caused  the  inscription  to  be  effaced,  and  complained 
of  it  to  the  Grand  Duke.  For  this  recourse  to  ttie 
civil  power,  Ricci  was  bitterly  blamed  by  his  enemies, 
and  those  of  social  order. 

That  devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart  caused  Ricci  still 
farther  trouble.  Salvi,  a  man  deeply  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  the  suppressed  order,  exposed  throughout  Pra- 
to,  his  native  place,  where  he  was  Prior  of  the  church 
of  Notre  Dame,  pictures  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  which  he 
surrounded  with  rich  ornaments,  calculated  to  keep  up 
the  superstition  of  the  people.  He  added  indulgences, 
obtained  from  Pius  VI.  in  favor  of  this  new  devotion, 
although  it  had  not  been  previously  verified  and  recog- 
nised for  authentic  by  the  Bishop,  as  the  Council  of 
Trent  requires.  Finally,  he  openly  supported  a  frater- 
nity illegally  formed  and  introduced  into  Tuscany,  in 
honor  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus. 

"  Every  body  knows,"  says  Ricci,  "  and  fatal  expe- 
rience has  too  fully  proved  it  during  the  troubles  which 
still  agitate  Europe,  how  many  machinations  the  Je- 
suits set  on  foot,  under  the  protection  of  Pius  VI.  to  re- 
es-tablish  their  society.  They  imagined  that  this  doc- 
trine of  the  Sacred  Heart  would  be  the  most  proper 
centre  and  point  of  union  for  all  who  should  labor  to 
that  end ;  with  this  view,  they  neglected  no  means,  no 
artifice,  to  promote  and  establish  this  worship.  The 
Popes  before  Clement  XIII.  had  generally  opposed  it  on 
religious  grounds.  After  the  suppression  of  the  Jesuits, 
this  superstition  made  little  progress,  on  account  of  the 
vigilance  and  firmness  of  Clement  XIV.;  and  in  all 
probability,  had  that  pontiff  lived  longer,*  it  would  have 
been  buried  with  the  suppressed  order.     '''  But  God," 

*  Thn  historian  of  the  Life  of  Ricci  here  inserts  a  note  which  has  for 
its  ol)ject  to  prove  the  authenticity  of  the  letters  of  Ganganelli.     The 


FEMALE     CONVENTS,  79 

says  Ricci,  "  wished  to  try  his  church,  in  order  to  pu- 
rify it  and  has  permitted  that  this  devotion  of  the  Sa- 
cred Heart  should  revive  in  all  its  force  under  Pius  VI. 
who  scattered  indulo:ences  in  handfuls  on  the  Cordi- 
coles :  the  worshippers  of  the  Sacred  Heart." 

Salvi  was  their  apostle  at  Prato.  He  was  cited  to 
Florence  by  the  Senator  Bartolini,  to  answer  for  his 
conduct,  but  that  cunning  Jesuit  seduced  this  magis- 
trate from  his  duty,  and  Leopold  had  to  reprimand  him, 
and  order  him  to  apologise  to  Ricci  for  his  conduct. 
The  Bishop  treated  him  on  this  occasion  with  the  great- 
est attention,  but  could  not  win  the  obstinate  heart  of 
the  Jesuit. 

The  city  of  Prato  was  entirely  under  the  influence 
of  the  monks.  The  Jesuits  and  the  Dominicans  exer- 
cised there  the  most  absolute  power,  the  former  direct- 
ing the  education  of  the  youth  of  all  the  principal  fa- 
milies of  the  neighborhood,  and  the  latter  managing 
the  female  convents.  The  Bishop  was  considered  as 
little  more  than  the  chief  personage  of  the  place  ;  his 
spiritual  authority  was  nothing.  In  this  situation  of 
things,  Ricci,  jealous  of  his  power,  and  especially  so 
when  religion  and  morality  demanded  its  rigorous  ex- 
ertion, could  hardly  remain  long  without  a  dispute 
with  the  monks.  Their  first  difference  originated  in  the 
nomination  of  a  Dominican  confessor  and  preacher,  in 
which  dispute  Ricci  saw  himself  overcome  by  the  want 

Abbe  de  Belgarde  tbus  expresses  himself  on  this  curious  point  of  literary 
history,  in  two  letters  to  Ricci,  written  in  1 776 ; 

"Have  you  seen  the  letters  of  Ganganelli  ?  there  are  a  orood  number 
of  them  addressed  to  the  late  iNlessieurs  Lauri  and  Cerati.  You  and  M. 
Martini  ought  to  have  read  them.  You  are,  of  course,  aware  that  there 
are  some  persons  who  throw  doubt  upon  the  authenticity  of  these  letters  ; 
some  through  passion  and  interest,  as  the  ex- Jesuits  and  infidels ;  and 
others  through  a  fastidious  spirit  of  criticism.  For  myself,  I  have  not  the 
slightest  doubt  on  the  subject.  Independent  of  the  evidence  derived  from 
the  work  itself,  1  have  seen  in  the  original,  the  letters  of  many  persons  of 
authority  in  Rome,  of  which  transcripts  had  been  furnished,  which,  in 
other  points  too,  prove  the  truth  of  this  publication."  In  another  letter, 
the  Abbe  de  Belgarde  adds,  "  I  have  the  satisfaction  of  knowing,  that 
persons  who  have  the  best  means  of  judging,  particularly  the  Cardinal 
de  Berni,  regard  the  letters  of  Clement  XIV.  as  authentic." 


80  SECRETS    OF 

of  discretion  in  the  Vicar-general,  who  took  part  with 
his  opponents. 

For  a  century  and  half  previous  to  this^  the  total 
corruption  of  the  Dominican  order  had  been  a  matter 
of  scandal  throughout  Tuscany.  The  spiritual  direc- 
tion which  those  monks  had  of  the  female  convents 
had  degenerated  into  the  basest  profligacy.  A  peti- 
tion, dated  1642,  still  exists,  in  which  the  Gonfalonier 
of  that  period,  and  other  representatives  of  the  people 
of  Pistoia,  address  the  reigning  Duke,  praying  for  a 
reformation  in  the  convents  of  the  Dominicans  of  Lu- 
cia and  Catherine.  Ferdinand,  however,  did  nothing, 
and  the  honor  was  reserved  for  Leopold. 

Two  nuns  of  the  convent  of  Catherine  of  Pistoia, 
who  had  exposed  the  execrable  principles  and  doctrines 
of  the  Dominican  monks,  their  directors,  gave  rise  to 
his  wise  reforms.  They  proved  how  much  the  profit 
which  the  monks,  and  above  all,  the  Provincial  and 
the  Confessor  drew  from  their  convent,  as  well  as  from 
others,  hurt  the  temporal  interests  of  those  religious 
houses,  and  were  gradually  ruining  them.  They  gave 
equally  strong  proofs  of  the  spiritual  ruin  produced  by 
the  familiarity  of  the  monks  with  the  nuns,  and  the 
easy  communication  which  they  had  with  them.  They 
ate  and  drank  with  their  favorite  sisters,  remained 
alone  with  them  in  their  cells  whenever  they  chose, 
and  whenever  they  could  find  a  pretext,  slept  during 
the  niofht  in  the  cloister.  Lonof  habit  had  in  fact  so  ac- 
customed  them  to  the  greatest  license,  that  scarcely  any 
respect  for  public  decency  remained.  We  here  insert 
the  declaration  of  the  nuns  of  Catherine  of  Pistoia, 
which  was  presented  to  the  Grand  Duke  Leopold  in  the 
year  1775. 

"  Instead  of  allowing  us  to  remain  in  our  simplicity, 
and  protecting  our  innocence,  they  teach  us,  both  by 
word  and  action,  all  kinds  of  indecencies.  They  fre- 
quently come  to  the  vestry,  of  which  they  have  almost 
all  the  keys ;  and  as  there  is  a  grate  there,  they  com- 
mit a  thousand  indecorous  acts. 

"  If  they  get  an  opportunity  of  coming  into  the  con- 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  SI 

vent  under  any  feigned  pretext,  they  go  and  stay  alone 
in  the  chambers  of  those  who  are  devoted  to  them. 
They  are  all  of  the  same  stamp ;  and  they  are  not 
ashamed  to  take  advantage  of  the  circumstance  of  the 
visitation  for  those  purposes.  They  utter  the  worst 
expressions,  saying  that  we  should  look  upon  it  as  a 
great  happiness  that  we  have  the  power  of  satisfying 
our  appetites  without  being  exposed  to  the  annoyance 
of  children.  They  say  that  when  this  life  is  ended,  all 
is  ended  :  and  they  add  that  even  Paul,  who  wrought 
with  his  own  hands,  should  teach  us ;  and  that  we 
should  not  hesitate  to  take  our  pleasures. 

•'  They  allow  every  kind  of  indecency  to  go  on  in 
the  parlour.  Though  often  warned  by  us,  they  do  not 
break  off  the  dangerous  intimacies  that  are  formed ; 
and  hence  it  has  often  occurred,  that  men  who  have 
contrived  to  get  the  keys  have  come  into  the  convent 
during  the  night,  which  they  have  spent  in  the  most 
dissipated  manner.  They  also  sutler  the  nuns  to  ne- 
glect the  sacraments  :  they  never  think  of  introducing 
the  practice  of  mental  prayer,  and  they  preach  nothing 
but  the  pleasures  of  this  life.  The  sisters  who  live  ac- 
cording to  their  maxims  are  extolled  by  them  and  in- 
dulged in  every  extravagance ;  and  the  others  must 
either  go  with  the  stream,  heedless  of  conscience,  or 
live  in  a  state  of  perpetual  warfare,  as  is  actually  the 
case  with  us  now. 

"  This  is  the  real  truth.  We  the  undersigned  attest 
it,  without  passion,  and  on  our  conscience. 

''  Anna  Teresa  Merlin i,  Madre  di  Consiglio. 

"Rosa  Peraccini,  Madre  di  Consiglio. 

"  Flavia  Peraccini,  Madre  di  Consiglio. 

"  Gaetana  Poggiali. 

"  Candida.  Gioconda  Botti. 

"  Maria,  Clotilda  Bambi." 
The  intercourse  of  the  monks  and  nuns,  according 
to  Ricci,  was  arrived  to  such  a  pitch  of  infamous  licen- 
tiousness, that  topics  of  the  most  disgusting  nature 
formed  the  usual  subject  of  their  conversation  ;  while 
the  greater  part  of  the  sisters  deprived  themselves  of 


S2  SECRETS  OF 

their  money  and  every  thing  else  to  satisfy  the  rapacity 
of  their  lovers,  performed  for  them  the  most  servile  of- 
fices, and  even  sometimes  went  by  the  name  of  their 
wives.  A  person  who  had  been  in  the  service  of  the 
Dominicans,  told  the  Bishop  many  other  things  of  a 
still  worse  kind,  and  that  his  principal  employment  had 
been  that  of  a  confidential  messenger  in  their  love-in- 
trigues. Leopold,  already  well  informed  of  this  con- 
dition of  the  convents,  to  obtain  still  farther  information, 
had  the  fahriciens  of  the  establishment  examined,  and 
found  every  thing  he  had  before  heard  confirmed.  He 
next  had  all  the  nuns  themselves  examined  by  the  Lieu- 
tenant of  Police ;  and  seeing  the  necessity  of  some 
prompt  and  vigorous  measure,  appointed  Bishop  Ala- 
manni  to  take  Avithout  delay  the  spiritual  superintend- 
ence of  all  the  Dominican  convents  of  Pistoia,  and  pro- 
hibited the  Dominican  monks,  on  pain  of  imprison- 
ment, from  approaching  them.  While  Ricci  was  Vicar 
of  the  Archbishop  of  Florence,  it  was  reported  to  him 
that  in  a  convent  of  that  diocese  where  the  nuns  all 
slept  in  a  common  dormitory,  the  two  last  beds  were 
for  the  father  confessor  and  his  lay  brother,  that  they 
might  have  them  in  case  of  being  called  to  assist  any 
sick  sister  during  the  night. 

Alamanni  resided  at  Florence,  but,  though  at  a  dis- 
tance from  his  diocese  and  eighty  years  old,  he  ren- 
dered an  exact  account  of  every  thing  which  occurred, 
and  gave  minute  directions  on  every  occasion  of  diffi- 
culty or  doubt.  Neither  his  gentleness,  however,  nor 
his  kind  feelings  for  the  nuns,  could  overcome  their 
pride  and  obstinacy.  They  constantly  refused  to  re- 
gard him  as  their  superior,  or  to  show  the  least  confi- 
dence in  the  confessors  he  appointed.  They  asserted 
that,  by  acting  in  a  contrary  manner,  they  should  have 
incurred  the  excommunication  of  Pius  V. ;  and  the 
dread  of  this  was  so  strong  with  many,  that  one  who 
was  dangerously  ill  at  Lucia,  never  requested  the  sa- 
craments. With  some,  this  was  the  eftect  of  igno- 
rance ;  but  in  many,  it  arose  from  vicious  passions  and 
the  desire  of  their  safe  indulgence.     The  monks,  the 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  83 

nuns,  and  even  the  Cardinal-protector  of  the  order, 
omitted  no  opportunity  of  assuring  them,  either  by  let- 
ters or  secret  emissaries,  that  if  they  continued  firm, 
the  tempest  which  menaced  them  would  in  a  little  time 
gradually  be  dispersed.  By  this  means  the  nuns  were 
confirmed  in  their  obstinate  resistance,  in  which  they 
persevered. 

A  short  time  after  the  death  of  Clement  XIV.  in 
1774,  Alamanni  addressed  the  Court  of  Rome  to  obtain 
the  power  and  means  for  reducing  the  Dominicans  of 
Pistoia  under  his  authority.  The  Cardinals,  assembled 
in  conclave,  granted  his  request,  and  confided  to  him 
a  conmiission  for  governing  the  convents  of  Lucia  and 
Catherine,  and  requested  him  to  communicate  such 
farther  information  as  might  be  useful  to  the  future 
Pope.  He  satisfied  their  demand,  and  added  to  the  de- 
tails already  given,  a  lively  picture  of  the  abuse  of  au- 
thority of  which  both  the  priors  and  confessors  in  the 
convent  of  Pistoia  were  guilty. 

The  nuns,  says  Alamanni,  nearly  all  declare  the  same 
thing  respecting  the  dissoluteness  and  libertinism  of 
their  directors,  of  their  materialism  in  doctrine,  and  the 
brutality  of  their  sentiments  ;  and  that  he  had  in  a  great 
degree  a  personal  experience  of  the  truth  of  these  as- 
sertions, as  he  had  been  charged  with  their  spiritual 
administration. 

In  the  mean  time  the  disorders  increased  at  Lucia. 
The  nuns  uniformly  united  in  opposing  the  Bishop,  in 
refusing  the  sacraments,  and  remaining  without  a  su- 
perior ;  since,  after  the  death  of  the  one  who  had  go- 
verned them  according  to  the  direction  of  the  Domi- 
nicans, they  were  determined  to  elect  no  other  without 
their  co-operation.  They  believed,  or  pretended  to  be- 
lieve, that  the  provisionary  power  given  by  the  Cardi  • 
dinals  to  their  Bishop  to  replace  the  monks,  was  either 
supposititious  or  insufficient.  At  Catherine,  the  demon 
of  discord  reigned  without  restraint.  Those  who  had 
been  reclaimed  were  regarded  as  guilty  of  apostacy,  as 
schismatics,  and  excommunicated"  The  party  opposed 
to  them  was,  although  less  numerous,  the  most  turbu- 


84  SECRETS    OF 

lent  and  determined.  The  threats  of  poisoning-  or  stran- 
ghng  the  complainants  were  nearly  every  day  renewed, 
and  no  authority  availed  to  suhdue  the  pride  of  those 
miserahly  depraved  nuns.  The  actual  condition  of 
those  persons  appears  from  the  report  which  the  three 
churchwardens  signed  and  presented  to  Leopold,  and 
from  a  letter  of  one  of  the  nuns  to  the  Rector  Camporini. 

"  The  Prior  and  the  Confessor  take  the  liberty  of 
going,  whenever  they  please,  into  the  vestry  to  con- 
verse with  their  favorites  ;  whereas,  according  to  the 
tenor  of  the  Bull,  they  should  not  even  communicate 
with  them  ad  loquendum  honum :  they  have  parties 
of  pleasure  there,  and  eat  with  the  nuns.  One  time, 
on  Easter  day,  the  other  nuns  going  in  a  body  to  divert 
themselves  there,  surprised  two  other  monks  along 
with  them,  each  passing  his  time  with  his  favorite 
nun. 

"  The  said  Prior  and  Confessor,  when  they  come 
into  the  convent  to  visit  the  sick,  do  not  go  to  them 
recto  tramite,  as  the  Bulls  direct,  but  wherever  they 
please,  and  even  alone  with  the  nuns  into  their  cells, 
and  they  walk  together  in  the  garden. 

"  If  they  are  attending  on  any  nuns  that  are  dying, 
they  eat  and  sleep  in  the  monastery,  which  is  pro- 
hibited, and  they  eat  with  whom  they  please,  even 
with  the  sextonesses. 

These  irregularities  are  imputed  not  only  to  the 
Prior  and  Confessor,  but  to  all  those  destined  from  time 
to  time  for  these  employments,  who  are  guilty  of  con- 
stant ill  conduct. 

In  a  letter  of  Flavia  Peraccini  to  Comparini,  written 
August,  1775,  she  thus  expresses  herself: 

"I  learned  yesterday  morning  that  the  fratesses^ 
monkesses,  had  a  letter  last  Friday  from  the  Cardinal 
Protector  of  the  order,  in  which  he  desires  them 
to  beseech  the  Lord  to  give  them  patience ;  that  he 
would  do  all  in  his  power  for  them,  but  that  they 
should  not  be  in  a  hurry,  for  the  aifair  would  be 
tedious.  At  all  events,  both  they  and  the  monks  keep 
up  their  hopes,  and  make  every  effort  to  prevent  any 


FEMALE  CONVENTS.  S5 

change.  No  one  can  have  any  idea  of  the  extent  of  the 
intrigues  of  the  monks  ;  and  the  devices  to  which  they 
have  recourse  to  secure  themselves,  are  astonishing. 

"  Every  time  I  think  of  the  plan  of  the  Provincial 
to  make  us  all  communicate,  and  then  to  make  us  all 
sign  a  declaration  that  we  attended  the  sacraments, 
and  that  every  thing  was  done  in  good  order,  and  thus 
make  liars  of  us,  I  am  perfectly  unable  to  restrain  my 
astonishment." 

The  reader  is  now  well  acquainted  with  the  Domi- 
nican nuns  and  the  monks  their  seducers.  It  would 
be  useless  to  make  any  observation  on  the  interest 
Avhich  one  of  the  princes  of  the  church  testified  so  openly 
for  them,  as  well  as  the  high  protection  which  he 
promised  them  to  aid  them  in  resuming,  as  soon  as 
possible,  their  claustral  amours,  and  returning  to  their 
libertine  habits,  against  the  will  of  their  Prince  and 
their  Bishop  ;  of  those  who  were  charged,  as  they  say, 
hy  divine  rights  to  oblige  them  to  live  in  a  way  the 
most  useless  or  .most  innocitons  to  society. 

Some  letters  of  the  nuns  of  Catherine  of  Pistoia,  prove 
how  far  the  immodesty  of  the  refractory  nuns,  and  of 
the  monks  their  paramours,  went.  The  former  openly 
threatened  the  lives  of  such  of  the  sisters  as  had  ven- 
tured to  reveal  that  tissue  of  debauchery,  and  to  call 
on  the  Government  to  re-establish  order  and  good 
morals. 

In  May,  1775,  Marianna  Santini,  Prioress  of  Cathe- 
rine, wrote  to  her  diocesan,  Alamanni,  to  say  that  she 
and  her  sisters  submitted  themselves  to  him  uncondi- 
tionally, and  promised  every  thing  that  he  required  of 
them,  '•  except  a  change  of  sentiment,  as  we  are  deter- 
mined to  die  rather  than  live  out  of  our  holy  order. 
The  greater  part  of  my  nuns  are  determined  to  go  into 
some  other  monastery  of  the  order,  and  there  is  no 
other  course  to  adopt. — Ours  is  a  single  will,  most 
free  and  resolute,  which  will  always  make  us  adhere 
immutably  to  what  we  freely  choose  in  the  act  of  our 
solemn  profession.-' 

The  complainants  presented  a  petition  to  the  Vicar 
8 


SECRETS    OF 


of  Bishop  Alamanni,  praying  that  he  would  dehver 
them  from  their  turbulent  companions. 

"The  poor  nuns  of  Catherine  of  Pistoia  salute  the 
Vicar,  and  entreat  him,  by  the  bowels  of  Jesus  Christ, 
to  remove  five  nuns  and  two  converses,  lay  sisters, 
who  oppose  the  resolutions  formed  by  his  Koyal 
Highness ;  otherwise  there  will  result  great  mischief. 
They  never  cease  to  ill-treat  the  complainants  by 
words,  and  they  threaten  to  come  to  acts.  We  conceal 
ourselves  through  fear.  Complainants  know  not  what 
to  do,  whether  they  should  quit  the  convent  to  save 
their  lives.  They  pray  you  to  adopt  some  measures 
before  evening,  or,  as  they  have  said,  they  will  go  out, 
ifec. — Anna  Teresa  Merlini — Rosa  Peraccini— Maria 
Caterina  Rossi — Candida  Botti — Anna  Luisa  Saccardi 
— Gaetana  Poggiali." 

June,  1775,  they  wrote  to  the  Bishop  Alamani  him- 
self: 

"  You  must  be  already  acquainted  with  the  treat- 
ment that  we  experienced  yesterday  from  Mother 
Ganucci,  that  is,  her  calling  one  of  us  a  fool,  because 
a  sigh  escaped  her  at  dinner,  in  so  loud  a  voice  as  to 
be  heard  at  a  great  distance.  She  then,  after  dinner, 
called  us  jades  and  audacious  wretches,  and  threatened 
to  have  us  put  to  death.  La  Biagiola  and  La  Campioni 
are  always  planning  to  do  us  jnichief,  and  to  poison  us. 
We  who  know  the  sort  of  persons  they  are,  and  their 
little  fear  of  God,  live  in  terror  all  day  and  night. — 
They  laughed  at  the  communications  made  by  you  ; 
and  said  quite  loud  in  the  garden — pardon  us,  and  do 
not  impute  it  to  want  of  respect — that  you  were  a 
knave  and  a  dolt,  that  wanted  to  play  the  braggadocio, 
because  you  knew  your  power  would  soon  be  at  an 
end,  (fee.  Yesterday  morning  they  read  a  book  at  the 
table,  in  which  it  is  said,  that  the  Emperor  Charles  IV. 
exempted  the  monks  from  the  power  of  princes,  and 
that  they  are  only  subject  to  the  Empire,  and  in  spirit- 
uals immediately  to  the  Pope." 

Maria  Caterina  Rossi,  when  calling  for  a  new  prior- 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  87 

ess  for  the  convent  of  Catherine,  thus  expressed  herself 
on  the  subject  of  the  refractory  nuns  : 

"  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  even  in  places  requiring 
silence,  they  presume  to  bawl  out  at  the  bottom  of  the 
doors,  even  during  the  hours  of  repose ;  and  say  that 
we  put  ourselves  in  the  hands  of  the  Devil,  when  we 
put  ourselves  in  those  of  the  priests  ;  and,  finally, 
threaten  to  strangle  us." 

Anna  Merlini  wrote  to  the  Bishop  : 

"  The  monks,  as  well  as  the  nuns,  have  obtained 
what  they  desired  ;  they  wished  for  the  ruin  of  the 
monastery,  and  they  will  see  it.  As  soon  as  possession 
was  taken  by  the  Vicar,  the  Provincial  went  to  Flor- 
ence, and  the  Prior  to  Rome  ;  for  if  they  could  do 
nothing  else,  they  would  succeed  in  having  us  dis- 
placed, and  that  the  Confessor  himself  said  to  more 
than  one  of  us.  They  commenced  a  suit  at  Florence, 
and  at  Rome.  The  lay-brother  belonging  to  the  last 
Provincial  remained  here  to  give  all  the  news  to  the 
nuns,  and  to  extract  from  them  every  thing  they  knew, 
to  communicate  it  to  his  superiors." 

Alamanni  in  vain  addressed  the  Court  of  Rome  ; 
in  vain  did  he  call  for  aid,  and  paint  in  the  liveliest 
colors  his  affliction  at  finding  his  power  altogether  in- 
sufficient for  the  difficulties  of  the  times.  He  obtained 
not  even  an  answer. 

In  June,  1775,  he  wrote  to  the  Congregation  of 
Bishops  and  Regulars  ;  and  in  July,  to  Cardinal  Ca- 
raffa  ;  but  the  same  silence  continued.  In  the  mean- 
while, the  nuns  laughed  at  the  menaces,  as  well  as  the 
exhortations  of  their  pastor.  Alamanni  wrote  again, 
in  September,  to  Cardinal  Torrigiani,  his  old  friend. 
He  told  him  all  the  anxiety  of  his  mind,  and  how  much 
he  suffered  in  seeing  himself  so  deserted  ;  but  the  only 
consolation  he  received  from  Torrigiani  was  an  assur- 
ance, that  he  pitied  his  situation,  and  that  he  would 
do  all  in  his  power  to  bring  the  subject  again  into  con- 
sideration. "  It  is  not,"  says  Ricci,  "  that  Alamanni 
knew  not  in  what  manner,  or  to  what  extent  he  might 
use  his  authority ;  but  he  was  not  willing  to  hurt  the 


8S  SECRETS    OF 

prejudices  either  of  his  flock,  which  was  favorable  to 
Rome,  or  of  the  nobles  of  Pistoia,  the  daughters  of 
whom  peopled  the  two  refractory  convents.  Nor  was 
he  willing  to  embroil  himself  in  a  quarrel  with  the  See 
of  Rome.  He  communicated  to  the  Grand  Duke  the 
motives  for  this  restraint;  and  the  latter,  who  loved  him 
ardently,  assured  him  that  he  had  no  personal  reason 
to  fear  either  the  intrigues  of  the  monks,  or  the  snares 
of  the  Nuncio.  Finding  that  the  Cardinal  Torrigiani 
obtained  nothing  from  the  Congregation  of  Bishops, 
Alamanni  prayed  him  to  address  Pius  YI.  himself. 
Torrigiani  did  so,  and  the  month  following  he  returned 
Alamanni  an  account  of  the  Pope's  reply.  "  The  Holy 
Father,"  he  said,  "was  not  willing,  in  any  way,  to  ap- 
prove of  the  innovations  illegally  introduced  into  the 
two  convents  ;  and  especially  the  design  of  the  Tuscan 
Government  to  take  away  the  direction  of  the  convents 
from  all  the  regular  orders,  the  abuse  of  which  the 
Pope  declared  he  believed  to  be  dictated  by  calumny." 
The  Bishop  of  Pistoia  died  in  the  same  month. 

Ippoliti,  his  successor,  the  compatriot  of  the  refrac- 
tory nuns,  and  the  relation  even  of  many  of  them, 
hoped  to  overcome  them  by  patience  and  kindness  ; 
but  he  was  no  more  successful  than  Alamanni.  He 
succeeded  also  as  little  in  obtaining  any  assistance 
from  the  Congregation  of  Bishops ;  till  at  length  the 
disorders  increased  to  such  a  height,  that  Leopold 
himself  interposed  his  authority.  Intending  to  pursue 
more  general  measures,  in  the  hope  that  they  would 
be  more  efficacious,  he  addressed  a  circular  to  the 
Tuscan  bishops,  desiring  them  to  demand  of  the  See 
of  Rome  the  removal  of  the  convents  from  the  direction 
of  the  monks,  and  their  submission  to  the  spiritual 
government  of  the  ordinaries.  This  measure  had  been 
constantly  desired  from  the  time  of  Cosmo  I.,  and  the 
Grand  Duke  conceived  the  project  of  effecting  it.  The 
circulars  were  sent  in  1776.  The  bishops  who  receiv- 
ed them,  were  not  ignorant  of  the  excesses  which  the 
Prince  wished  to  extirpate.  They  knew  also  that  the 
direction  of  the  convents  by  the  monks,  was  in  direct 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  89 

opposition  to  all  the  reforms  which  he  intended  to  in- 
troduce for  the  good  of  rehgion  throughout  the  States  ; 
and  they  had^  consequently,  no  excuse  for  resisting  his 
orders.  But  the  Avocat  Fei,  the  charge-d'affaires  for 
Tuscany,  was  not  a  fit  negotiator  in  such  a  business. 
Of  narrow  views,  blindly  attached  to  the  Court  of  Rome, 
and  the  devoted  friend  and  admirer  of  P.  Mamachi,  he 
permitted  himself  to  be  blinded  by  the  pontifical  govern- 
ment. Although,  therefore,  he  pretended  to  assist  the 
reform,  he  rendered  his  concessions  of  no  avail,  by  the 
conditions  with  which  it  was  burdened,  namely,  that 
every  Tuscan  bishop  should  give  an  account  of  the 
convents,  the  spiritual  direction  of  which  was  in  his 
hands,  in  order  that  a  proof  might  thus  be  afforded  of 
the  necessity  of  the  transfer.  This  was  the  true  method 
to  carry  on  the  disputes  without  end.  The  Bishop 
Ippoliti  imagined  that  nothing  should  prevent  the 
renewal  of  his  complaints,  or  his  demands  to  have  all 
the  convents  committed  to  his  power.  But  he  soon 
discovered  his  mistake :  the  Court  of  Rome  grants 
every  thing  to  submission,  and  by  favor ;  nothing  to 
justice,  to  right  and  demand.  Ippoliti  receii^ed,  in 
January,  1777,  a  letter  from  the  Pope,  in  which  he 
not  only  refused  what  the  prelate  had  requested,  but 
heaped  reproaches  upon  him  for  having  recalled  an 
affair  to  the  recollection  of  his  Holiness,  which  he 
hoped  had  been  forgotten  since  the  death  of  Alamanni. 
The  Bishop  is,  moreover,  especially  rebuked  with  hav- 
ing contributed  to  the  execution  of  the  plan  of  the 
Grand  Duke  to  take  the  direction  of  the  convents  from 
the  hands  of  the  regulars,  a  plan,  it  is  said,  opposed  to 
the  canons,  and  hurtful  to  rehgion  and  the  monastic 
orders.  The  only  attempt  at  softening  the  refusal  of 
this,  and  Leopold's  request,  was  the  putting  of  a  few 
neglected  and  altogether  vicious  convents  into  the 
hands  of  some  Tuscan  bishops. 

Ippoliti  had  another  ray  of  hope ;  but  he  had  too 
much  good  sense  to  be  a  favorite  with  the  See  of  Rome, 
and  the  only  concessions  he  could  obtain,  was  a  per- 
mission to  transfer  the  refractory  nuns  of  Catherine  to 

8* 


90  SECRETS    OF 

the  convent  of  Clement  of  Prato,  which  was  under  the 
direction  of  the  Dominicans,  and  where  they  were  re- 
ceived in  triumph. 

Still  s^reater  disorders  than  those  which  had  been 
supposed  to  exist  at  Pistoia,  were  soon  discovered  at 
Prato.  Ricci  had  his  attention  directed  towards  the 
latter  by  the  disgraceful  incontinency  of  two  of  the 
nuns.  All  the  evil  which  existed  was  attributable  to 
the  Dominican  monks.  For  many  years,  says  the 
Bishop,  those  women  lived,  plunged  in  the  most  infa- 
mous debauchery.  The  name  of  the  one  was  Catherine 
Irene  Buonamici,  sprung  from  a  noble  family  in  Prato, 
aged  fifty  years ;  the  other,  Clodesin  de  Spighi,  of 
equally  noble  descent,  aged  thirty-eight  years.  Every 
means  had  been  employed  by  the  Dominicans  to  pre- 
vent any  of  the  circumstances  from  transpiring.  When 
Ricci,  however,  received  the  government  of  the  diocese, 
and  Vincent  Majocchi  was  appointed  confessor  to  the 
convent  of  Catherine,  the  dreadful  situation  of  its  mem- 
bers became  exposed  to  public  notice.  At  the  feast  of 
Pentecost,  Majocchi,  more  scrupulous  than  his  prede- 
cessors, refused  those  two  nuns  absolution.  In  an  in- 
stant the  affair  became  known  abroad.  The  Yicar  of 
Prato,  Lorenzo  Palli,  was  informed  of  it,  and  Ricci 
himself  hearing  it  reported,  sent  to  obtain  the  details 
from  the  Yicar.  The  latter  answered,  that  the  nuns 
believed  neither  the  sacraments  of  the  church,  nor 
the  eternity  of  another  life  ;  that  they  denied  certain 
criminal  actions  to  be  sins,  and  especially  those  of  the 
flesh.  Not  content  with  what  he  had  done,  Majocchi 
went  himself  to  Pistoia,  to  give  the  Bishop,  and  the 
Penitencier  of  the  cathedral,  who  was  the  uncle  of 
Spighi,  an  account  of  what  had  passed ;  but  so  op- 
pressed was  he  with  the  difficulties  which  presented 
themselves  to  a  reform,  that,  notwithstanding  the  re- 
monstrances of  Ricci,  he  resigned  his  office. 

Ricci  wished  to  do  nothing  in  this  affair  without  the 
concurrence  of  the  Dominicans  themselves ;  but  the 
rudeness  and  obstinacy  with  which  they  replied  to  his 
overture,  are  almost  past  belief    The  Bishop,  however. 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  91 

had  to  congratulate  himself  afterwards  that  no  com- 
promise took  place,  and  that  he  was  left  to  pursue  his 
reformation  to  the  utmost.  The  Grand  Duke,  having 
been  informed  by  him  of  what  had  occurred,  began  by- 
giving  the  most  severe  orders  that  no  communication 
should  take  place  between  the  convent  of  Catherine 
and  the  Dominican  monks.  He  also  collected  what- 
ever documents  might  tend  to  prove  the  complicated 
baseness  of  the  Dominicans,  and  that  also  of  the  Domi- 
nicans at  Pistoia  in  1774,  and  which  might  enable  him 
to  examine  the  affair  in  all  its  ramifications.  He  sub- 
mitted the  measures  which  had  been  taken,  two  years 
after,  1776,  to  the  Court  of  Rome,  to  obtain  for  the 
bishops  the  direction  of  the  convents,  but  which  mea- 
sures the  intrigues  of  the  Dominicans  at  Rome  totally 
destroyed. 

Tlie  monks  perceived  the  danger  of  their  situation, 
and  could  discover  no  other  method  of  lessening  it, 
than  that  of  exciting  the  people  in  their  favor  against 
the  Government.  For  this  purpose  they  prepared  a 
nun  of  the  convent  of  Vincent,  at  Pistoia,  and  obliged 
her  to  feign  an  ecstacy  before  the  shrine  which  contains 
the  body  of  St.  Catherine.  When  this  was  done,  a 
report  was  spread  that  the  city  was  menaced,  by  this 
celestial  sign,  with  some  dreadful  scourge.  Instantly 
the  church  of  the  RecoUets  was  filled  with  Vv^omen, 
thinking  the  world  was  at  an  end,  and  demanding  con- 
fession ;  nor  was  the  tumult  appeased  till  it  was  said 
that  the  misfortune  only  threatened  the  children  of 
Saint  Dominic. 

The  disorders  discovered  at  Prato  were  only  the 
sequel  of  those  which  the  Government  had  rooted  out 
of  the  convents  of  Pistoia.  In  two  letters  of  Flavia 
Peraccini,  Prioress  of  Catherine  of  Pistoia,  to  Compa- 
rini,  rector  of  the  episcopal  seminary  in  the  same  city: 
the  nun  relates  what  passed  before  her  eyes  in  her  own 
convent,  what  had  passed  there  before  she  wrote,  and 
what  still  continued  to  take  place  in  other  convents, 
particularly  at  Prato. 

"  It  would  require  both  time  and  memory  to  recollect 


92  SECRETS    OP 

what  has  occurred  during  the  twenty-four  years  that 
1  have  had  to  do  with  monks,  and  all  that  I  have  heard 
tell  of  them.  Of  those  who  are  gone  to  the  other  world 
I  shall  say  nothing ;  of  those  who  are  still  alive,  and 
\have  little  decency  of  conduct,  there  are  very  many, 
among  whom  there  is  an  ex-provincial  named  Ballendi ; 
then  Donati,  Pacini,  Buzzaccherini,  Calvi,  Zoratti.  Big- 
liacci,  Guidi,  Miglietti,  Verde,  Bianchi,  Ducci,  Serafini, 
Bolla,  Nera  di  Lucca,  Quaretti.  With  the  exception 
of  three  or  four,  all  that  I  ever  knew,  alive  or  dead, 
are  of  the  same  character ;  they  have  all  the  same 
maxims  and  the  same  conduct.  They  are  on  more 
intimate  terms  with  the  nuns  than  if  they  were  married 
to  them. 

"  It  is  the  custom  now,  that,  when  they  come  to 
visit  any  sick  sister,  they  sup  with  the  nuns,  they  sing, 
dance,  play,  and  sleep  in  the  conv^ent.  It  is  a  maxim 
of  theirs,  that  God  has  forbidden  hatred,  but  not  love  ; 
and  that  the  man  is  made  for  the  woman,  and  the 
woman  for  the  man.  They  teach  us  to  amuse  our- 
selves, saying,  that  Paul  said  the  same,  who  wrought 
with  his  own  hands.  They  deceive  the  innocent,  and 
even  those  tliat  are  most  circumspect ;  and  it  would 
need  a  miracle  to  converse  with  them  and  not  to  fall. 

"  The  priests  are  the  husbands  of  the  nuns,  and  the 
lay-brothers  of  the  lay-sisters.  In  the  chamber  of  one 
of  those  I  have  mentioned,  a  man  was  one  day  found  ; 
he  fled,  but  very  soon  after  they  gave  him  to  us  as 
confessor  extraordinary.  How  many  bishops  are  there 
in  the  Papal  States  who  have  come  to  the  knowledge 
of  some  disorder,  have  held  examinations  and  visita- 
tions, and  yet  could  never  remedy  it ;  because  the 
monks  tell  us  that  those  are  excommunicated  who 
reveal  what  passes  in  the  order  !  '  Poor  creatures  !  said 
I  to  an  English  provincial,  they  think  they  are  leav- 
ing the  world  to  escape  danger,  and  they  only  meet 
with  greater.  Our  fathers  and  mothers  have  given  us 
a  good  education,  and  here  we  learn  the  Ave  Maria 
backwards.'  He  knew  not  what  reply  to  make  to  me. 
God  is  my  witness,  I  speak  without  passion.     The 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  93 

monks  have  never  done  any  thing  to  me  personally  to 
make  me  dislike  them;  but  I  will  say  that  so  iniqui- 
tous a  race  as  the  monks  no  where  exists.  Bad  as  the 
seculars  are,  they  do  not  at  all  come  up  to  them  ;  and 
the  art  of  the  monks  with  the  world  and  their  superi- 
ors baffled  description. 

"  When  they  notify  the  death  of  a  nun,  they  make 
a  panegyric  on  her  in  the  circular  letter,  to  show  that 
they  know  how  to  direct  these  poor  graceless  creatures ! 
God  only  knows  if  they  are  not  utterly  lost.  How  ill 
they  are  attended  when  on  the  bed  of  death  !  That; 
indeed,  is  carnaval-time. 

"  When  they  gave  us  the  holy-water  every  year, 
they  threw  every  thing,  even  the  beds,  into  disorder. 
What  a  racket  they  used  to  make  !  One  time  they 
washed  Father  Manni's  face,  and  dressed  him  like  a 
nun.  In  short,  it  was  a  perpetual  scene  of  amuse- 
ment : — comedies  and  conversation  for  ever.  Every 
monk  who  passed  by  on  his  way  to  the  chapter  they 
found  some  means  of  showing  into  the  convent,  and 
intreated  a  sick  sister  to  confess  herself  Everlasting 
scandal  about  husbands, — of  those  who  had  stolen  the 
mistress  of  such  a  one  ;  hovv^  others  had  avenged 
themselves  in  the  chapter  ;  and  how  they  would  not 
have  forgiven  even  in  death. 

"  Do  not  suppose  that  this  is  the  case  in. our  con- 
vent alone.  It  is  just  the  same  at  Lucia,  at  Prato,  at 
Pisa,  at  Perugia  ;  and  I  have  heard  things  that  would 
astonish  you.  Every  where  it  is  the  same,  every 
where  the  same  disorders,  every  where  the  same  abuses 
prevail.  Let  the  superiors  suspect  as  they  may,  they 
do  not  know  even  the  smallest  part  of  the  enormous 
wickedness  that  goes  on  between  the  monks  and  the 
nuns." 

The  next  day  the  Nun  Peraccini,  who  had  been 
interrogated  respecting  Friar  Buzzaccherini  of  Lucia, 
replied  by  the  following  letter.  These  details  had 
been  required  of  her  because  it  was  known  that  that 
monk  had  been  sent  as  confessor  to  the  nuns  of  Vincent 
of  Pistoia,  where  it  had  been  ascertained,  the  confes- 


94  SECRETS    OF 

sors  were  in  the  habit  of  stayinof  every  day  till  midnight, 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  whole  town. 

"  With  respect  to  Biizzaccherini,  he  acted  just  like 
the  rest,  sitting  up  late,  diverting  himself,  and  letting 
the  usual  disorders  go  on.  There  were  several  nuns 
who  had  love  affairs.  His  own  mistress  was  Odaldi 
of  Lucia,  who  used  to  send  him  continual  treats  ;  and 
he  was  in  love  with  the  daughter  of  our  factor,  of 
whom  they  were  very  jealous  here.  He  too,  like  the 
other  monks,  used  to  send  us  his  dirty  linen.  He  ruined 
poor  Cancellieri,  who  was  sextoness,  for  he  was  always 
asking  something  from  her,  and  almost  every  morning 
she  had  to  dress  him  some  nice  dish.  They  are  all 
alike." 

Some  years  ago  the  nuns  of  Vincent,  in  consequence 
of  the  extraordinary  passion  they  had  for  Father  Lupi 
and  Father  Borghigiani,  were  divided  into  two  parties, 
one  calling  themselves  Le  Lupe,  the  other  Le  Borg- 
higiani. 

He  who  made  the  greatest  noise  in  Lucia  was  Donati, 
but  I  believe  he  is  now  at  Rome.  Brandi  too  was  also 
in  great  vogue.     He  is  now  prior  at  Gemignano. 

''  It  is  true,  that  the  temporal  is  not  oppressive,  but 
the  nun  who  is  always  giving  to  the  friar,  how  does 
she  observe  her  vow  of  poverty  ? — At  Vincent,  which 
passes  for  a  sanctuary,  they  also  have  their  lovers." 

The  direction  of  the  female  convents  by  the  regu- 
lars, usually  produced  corruption  of  morals.  In  a 
letter  written  from  Rome,  October,  1781,  by  the  Advo- 
cate Zanobetti  to  Bishop  Ricci,  he  hopes  that  it  will 
end  with  the  general  adoption  of  withdrawing  the 
nuns  from  the  spiritual  direction  of  the  monks  ;  "espe- 
cially in  the  states,  where,  some  years  ago,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  raze  from  the  foundations  one  of  men  be- 
longing to  the  barefooted  Carmelites,  the  other  of 
women  of  the  same  order,  which  were  joined,  and  in 
which,  by  means  of  subterranean  passages,  they  led  the 
ordinary  life  of  men  and  women."  Zanobetti  had  been 
five  years  employed  in  the  office  of  assessor  of  the 
Inquisition,  and  knew  much  more  about  monks  and 
nuns  than  the  Bishop  of  Pistoia. 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  95 


CHAPTER     VI 


Examination  of  the  Nuns  of  Prate. — Obstinacy  of  the  Pope. — Ricci's  visit 
to  LaMontagne. — Improvements  in  that  district. — Reform  of  ecclesias- 
tical studies. 

The  nuns  of  Lucia,  in  Pistoia,  had  voluntarily  sub- 
mitted themselves  to  their  new  pastor.  Weariness, 
ennni^  and  principally  their  beino^  deprived  of  the  sup- 
port of  the  convent  of  Catherine,  had  induced  them  to 
believe  that  no  efforts  they  could  make,  would  bring 
back  the  monks.  This  was  not  the  case  at  Prato. 
The  pride  and  madness  of  the  Dominicans,  opposed 
to  the  firmness  of  the  Prince  and  the  Bishop,  drove 
things  every  day  to  greater  extremity.  The  resorts  of 
cunning  remained,  and  a  monk  attempted  to  employ 
them.  At  tlie  period  when  he  was  least  expected, 
Calvi,  a  Dominican,  arrived  at  Prato,  authorized  by 
an  order  from  the  Grand  Duke  to  co-operate  with 
Ricci  in  the  examination  of  the  existino-  abuses.  He 
had  been  warmly  recommended  to  the  Prince  by  Ser- 
atti,  his  secretary  ;  who  hoped,  by  this  measure,  to 
moderate  the  zeal  of  Ricci.  But  Calvi  spoiled  all,  by 
acting  his  part  improperly  ;  and  Ricci,  informed  of  his 
conduct,  inmiediately  made  Leopold  acquainted  with 
his  character,  and  had  him  recalled. 

A  Servite,  named  P.  Baldi,  had  been  commissioned 
by  Ricci  to  examine  the  nuns  and  boarders  of  the  con- 
vent of  Catherine.  During  this  affair,  every  one  con- 
nected in  any  way  with  the  Dominicans,  was  in  the 
greatest  agitation.  "It  is  more  easy  to  imagine,  than 
to  describe  the  fury  of  the  monks  and  tlieir  adherents, 
at  Prato.  Tumults  and  secret  machinations  were 
formed,  to  free  the  accused  nuns,  and  destroy  every 
proof  of  their  guilt.  These  turbulent  monks  had  also 
a  powerful  assistant  in  the  Papal  Nuncio  for  Tus- 
cany.    He  afforded  them  aid  and  protection,  because 


96  SECRETS    OF 

he  knew  that  their  dishonor  would  fall  on  the  Court  of 
Rome.  He  defended  and  prohibited  the  ex- Jesuits, 
whom  his  court  also  supported,  because  it  saw  that  ijf 
it  would  continue  to  be  a  court,  it  must  not  allow  these 
vigorous  satellites  of  its  despotism  to  be  crushed. 

June,  1781,  Ricci  wrote  to  the  minister  Seratti : 

''  The  Dominicans  are  in  motion  ;  the  Nuncio  does 
not  relax  in  his  eiforts  to  save  them.  It  is  not  at  all 
unlikely  that  he  will  endeavor  to  have  the  cause 
brought  before  himself,  under  the  pretext  of  having 
received  a  special  commission  from  his  court,  and  in 
the  hope,  that  the  affair  going  on  tediously,  according 
to  the  usual  policy  of  the  Holy  See,  people  will  at  last 
get  tired,  and  the  matters  remain  in  statu  quo. 

"  They  say  at  Rome,  to  defend  the  monks,  that  the 
two  nuns  are  mad  ;  but,  up  to  the  present  hour,  no  one 
has  ever  taken  them  for  such.  Besides,  Buonamici 
was  prioress  of  her  society  ten  or  twelve  years  ago. 
She  and  Spighi  were,  in  1775  or  1776,  the  one  mistress, 
the  other  second  mistress  of  the  novices.  Finally, 
they  have  been  always  admitted  to  partake  of  the 
sacraments,  and  that  alone  is  enough  to  condemn  the 
monks." 

As  protector  of  the  licentiousness  of  the  monks,  the 
Nuncio  thought  he  might  at  least  partake  of  their  less 
scandalous  pleasures.  In  a  letter  of  the  Abbe  de 
Bellegarde,  one  of  the  heads  of  the  Jansenists  at 
Utrecht,  to  the  Bishop  of  Pistoia,  March,  1782,  he  com- 
plained of  this  unclerical  conduct :  "  What  a  scandal," 
replied  the  zealous  Abbe,  "  to  see  monks  at  Florence 
giving  in  their  convents,  comedies,  masqued  balls,  (fee; 
and  to  see  the  Nuncio  of  his  Holiness  present  at  them !" 

But  nothing  could  damp  the  courage  or  zeal  of  Ricci. 
The  examination  was  continued,  and  the  report  of  it 
was  sent  to  Leopold,  who  commissioned  his  charge 
d'affaires  at  the  Court  of  Rome  to  bring  the  subject 
before  the  Pope  with  all  diligence. 

The  Grand  Duke  testified  his  impatience  for  a  reply 
to  his  demands,  by  sending  a  courier  extraordinary, 
who  was  not  to  quit  Rome  without  an  answer.     The 


FExMALE    CONVENTS. 


97 


result  was  expected  as  anxiously  by  many  of  the  nuns, 
as  by  Leopold ;  and  the  examination  into  the  abuses 
of  the  convent  of  Clement  was  stopped,  till  it  should 
be  known.  In  the  mean  time,  fresh  proofs  were  every 
day  sent  to  Ricci  of  the  licentiousness  of  the  monks 
and  nuns.  The  public  places  and  the  shops  of  Prato 
resounded  with  reports  of  their  excesses ;  and  there 
was  not  a  female  who  had  been  on  an  errand  to  the 
convent,  who  had  not  some  anecdote  to  tell  of  their 
conduct.  The  boarders  bore  the  same  testimony  to 
the  barefaced  vices  of  the  nuns ;  and  one  mentioned 
that  she  had  seen  a  play  of  Goldoni's,  "La  Vedova 
Scaltra,''  performed  much  better  by  the  nuns  of  Cathe- 
rine than  at  the  theatre.  The  Confessor  was  the  most 
conspicuous  of  the  spectators,  and  the  performance 
was  followed  by  conduct  not  fit  to  be  related. 

Ricci  had  taken  every  precaution  in  his  power  to 
stop  the  evil  of  this  public  scandal,  but  in  vain  ;  and 
he  Avas  obliged  at  last  to  have  recourse  to  sending  the 
two  accused  nuns  to  Florence.  This  was  the  more 
necessary,  as  the  sisters  had  been  seized  with  the  spirit 
of  proselytism,  and,  having  lost  the  opportunity  of 
spreading  their  opinions  through  the  convent,  they 
made  an  effort  to  corrnpt  the  persons  appointed  to  at- 
tend them  in  their  confinement.  Before  their  depart- 
ure from  his  diocese,  Ricci  had  them  again  examined, 
together  with  their  companions,  and  made  them  sign 
their  confessions  in  a  formal  manner  before  the  proper 
legal  authorities.  What  Vv^as  most  remarkable,  was 
this,  that  Buonamici,  in  making  her  deposition,  kept 
adding  explanations  of  the  most  indelicate  nature,  to 
develop  the  system  of  impiety  and  mysticism  which 
had  led  her  into  error.  She  and  Spighi  were  sent  to 
Florence  by  night  in  separate  carriages,  attended  by  a 
priest,  a  layman,  and  an  aged  female :  they  were  put 
into  the  Hospital  des  Insenses  at  Florence,  where  their 
behavior  was  tranquil  and  settled. 

Ricci  has  given  a  full  account  of  the  wretched  men- 
tal condition  of  the  unfortunate  sisters.  Buonamici 
was  endowed  with  great  natural  ability,  and  had  com- 

9 


98  SECRETS    OF 

posed  several  pieces  of  poetry  of  considerable  merit. 
She  liad  read  Voltaire  and  Rousseau,  and  had  stored 
her  mind  with  their  opinions.  But  her  understanding 
had  been  chiefly  perverted  by  the  corruption  of  her 
manners.  Imbued  with  both  the  impurities  and  the 
errors  of  the  Gnostics,  she  began  to  make  converts  of 
her  companions  to  her  own  ideas^  but  was  contented 
with  their  becoming  accomplices  in  her  licentious  con- 
duct without  penetrating  farther  into  the  mysteries  of 
her  system.  Spighi,  on  the  contrary,  she  believed  to 
be  more  capable  of  comprehending  her  whole  scheme 
of  doctrine  ;  but  the  latter  was  of  an  inferior  mind  to 
her  teaclier^  and  was  not  equally  able,  when  examined, 
to  elude  the  questions  which  were  intended  to  lay  open 
their  conduct  and  opinions.  Buonamici  had  sufficient 
subtlety  and  knowledge  of  the  scriptures  to  torment  her 
examiner.  Longinelli,  who  afterwards  acknowledged 
that  there  were  many  of  her  sophisms  put  so  inge- 
niously, that  at  the  time  he  was  unable  properly  to 
combat  them.  Ricci  said,  "it  is  impossible  to  consider 
the  frightful  errors  into  which  these  deluded  women 
had  fallen,  without  horror."  The  holiest  rites  of  reli- 
gion had  been  subjected  by  them  to  the  most  disgusting 
obscenities  ;  every  doctrine  of  scripture  was  interpreted 
by  them  so  as  to  authorize  some  shameful  indulgence ; 
and  they  pretended  that  for  whatever  they  did  or  be- 
lieved, they  had  the  s|)ecial  illumination  of  the  Holy 
Spirit. 

The  Bishop  of  Pistoia  remitted  to  Rome  whatever 
information  he  obtained  on  this  important  affair.  At 
first  this  attention  seemed  to  be  well  received,  but  it 
soon  became  different.  Cardinal  Pallavicini,  the  only 
one  who  had  induced  the  Court  of  Rome  to  act  at  all 
reasonably,  was  obliged,  on  account  of  his  health,  to 
retire  into  the  country,  and  leave  the  office  of  Secretary 
of  State  to  Cardinal  Rezzonico.  The  first  indication 
which  the  latter  gave  of  his  disposition,  was  in  his  re- 
ply to  Cardinal  Corsini,  who  had  asked  him  to  confer 
upon  Ricci,  without  delay,  authority  over  the  Dominican 
convents  in  his  diocese.    His  answer  was  only  virulent 


FEMALE     CONVENTS.  99 

abuse  of  the  Bishop,  and  of  his  conduct  respecting  the 
devotion  of  the  Sacred  Heart. 

Cardinal  Rezzonico  was  at  the  head  of  the  Jesuit 
faction  ;  the  Dominican  party  joined  it,  and  the  league 
was  strengthened  by  the  common  dangers  and  interests 
of  both.  A  powerful  party  was  thus  formed  against 
Ricci ;  but  his  resolution  remained  unshaken.  He  con- 
tinued to  write  to  Rome,  and  to  every  one  whom  he 
thought  able  to  assist  him  in  obtaining  the  consent  of 
the  Pope  to  his  reformation  of  the  convent  of  Catherine. 
His  letter  to  Cardinal  Corsini^  dated  July,  1781,  is  as 
follows : 

"  What  I  have  ascertained  by  means  of  the  examin- 
ation held  by  the  LK^uisitor-extraordinary,  fills  me  with 
horror;  and  the  two  unfortunate  wretches  have  not 
only  confirmed  what  was  said  by  the  nuns  and  the 
boarders,  but  have  even,  with  unspeakable  impudence, 
said  still  more,  confessing  even  a  most  horrible  abuse 
of  the  sacrament  of  the  eucharist.  With  the  exception 
of  a  Portuguese  ex-jesuit,  BottillO;  who  conversed  with 
them  every  day  for  an  entire  summer,  after  they  had 
been  already  infected,  1  have  not  been  able  to  discover 
with  certainty  any  others  guilty  of  teaching  them  such 
wicked  principles ;  and  even  on  him  nothing  can  be 
positively  fixed,  except  indecent  acts  and  language. 
Ricci  adds,  that  the  two  nuns  only  sought  in  their  re- 
plies to  exculpate  the  Dominicans  from  the  charge  of 
being  their  accomplices ;  which  is  also  apparent  from 
their  original  examinations.  We  have  the  testimony 
of  Flavia  Peraccini  to  fill  up  that  void  in  their  con- 
fessions. Taken  with  the  information  given  by  Buo- 
namici  and  Spighi  themselves,  it  serves  to  establish 
irrefutably  the  truth  of  what  was  indeed  most  probable, 
that  tlie  confessors  and  priors  whom  they  name,  were 
the  sole  teachers  of  the  Spinozism,  materialism,  quiet- 
ism, and  hcentiousness,  with  which  these  nuns  were 
infected." 

A  letter  of  Ricci  to  the  same  Cardinal,  July,  1781, 
says : 

^'  The   conduct  pursued   by  so   many  provincials. 


100  SEC11ET3    OF 

priors,  and  confessorSj  in  this  and  in  other  conventSj 
would  make  one  apprehend  that  the  evil  was  in  the 
body,  and  that  they  systematically  held  opinions  con- 
trary to  the  law  of  Jesns  Christ With  what  con- 
fidence can  bishops  admit  these  men  to  the  office  of 
confessors,  among  whom  we  know  that  such  evil 
prevails  ?" 

The  Bishop  of  Pistoia  also  wrote  to  the  Pope,  and 
sent  him  a  detailed  report  of  the  principles  which  form- 
ed the  doctrine  maintained  by  the  two  nuns  of  Cathe- 
rine of  Prato.  These  principles  were  all  deduced  from 
the  answers  made  by  the  two  nuns  themselves  in  their 
examinations  already  given. 

In  another  letter,  Ricci  informs  the  Pope  that  the 
two  nuns,  who  had  been  removed  to  Florence,  as  well 
as  those  who  remained  at  Prato,  refused  to  accuse  any 
monk  of  their  order,  and  that  they  even  complained 
bitterly  of  the  suspicions  entertained  against  their  con- 
fessors. They  maintained  that  they  had  no  need  either 
of  books,  or  of  instructions,  written  or  verbal,  to  form 
into  a  system  the  doctrines  they  professed,  and  which, 
they  asserted,  arose  spontaneously  in  their  mind.  The 
Bishop  of  Pistoia  added  to  his  letter  the  depositions  of 
the  nuns  of  Catherine  of  that  city,  made  in  1775,  when 
that  convent  was  taken  from  under  the  direction  of  the 
Dominicans, — depositions  of  which  the  subjects  display 
the  same  errors  as  were  afterwards  found  among  the 
nuns  of  Prato,  and  which  were  ascribed  to  the  instruc- 
tions and  insinuations  of  the  monks.  He  relates  this 
circumstance  as  a  newproof  of  what  it  was  so  import- 
ant to  demonstrate  fully,  that  these  monks  were  alone 
guilty  of  all  the  disorders  in  the  convent  of  Prato, 
whither  they  had  gone  to  take  the  spiritual  direction 
of  the  nuns  of  their  order,  after  having  perverted  those 
oi  Pistoia. 

In  1781,  Ricci  also  wrote  to  Vasquez,  General  of 
the  order  of  the  Augustinians,  to  beg  of  him  to  have 
Buonamici's  brother,  who  was  under  him,  examined, 
and  whom  the  depositions  showed  to  have  been  in  a 
very  intimate  relation  with  the  convent  of  Prato, 


FEMvVLE    CONVENTS.  101 

Vasquez  replied,  that  this  monk  was  very  simple,  and 
even  scrupulous  ;  so  much  so,  that  he  thought  one  time 
he  ought  to  denounce  his  sister,  for  having  spoken  in 
his  presence  some  suspicious  words  on  the  suhject  of 
religion. 

In  the  above-mentioned  letter  to  Vasquez,  Ricci  says: 
^'  The  two  unfortunate  wretches,  and  especially  Buona- 
mici,  have  deposed,  at  Florence,  several  additional  cir- 
cumstances, and  have  mentioned  the  Dominicans  as 
being  their  teachers  and  encouragers  in  that  school  of 
iniquity." 

The  suspicions  of  the  Bishop  of  Pistoia  were  thus 
completely  confirmed,  and  there  remained  not  the  least 
doubt  of  the  moral  and  religious  depravity  of  the  entire 
order  of  Dominic, — a  depravity  which  the  monks  had 
incessantly  labored  to  propagate,  by  initiating  in  the 
system  of  the  most  impious  materialism,  the  nuns  who 
were  afterwards  to  minister  to  their  sensual  pleasures. 
This  order  was  not  the  only  one  which  had  thus  or- 
ganized licentiousness  by  means  of  false  opinions.  In 
a  letter  from  Signor  Foggini  to  the  Bishop  of  Pistoia, 
Rome,  July,  1781,  are  these  words  :  ~~~^'%. 

'^  "  I  was  told  yesterday,  that  the  first  seducer  of  this 
convent  was  a  Jesuit.  I  know  a  monastery  in  which 
a  Jesuit  used  to  make  the  nuns  lift  up  their  oiothes, 
assuring  them  that  they  thereby  performed  an  act  of 
virtue,  because  they  ov^ercome  a  natural  repugnance." 

It  had  been  falsely  reported  at  Rome,  that  neither 
the  General  of  the  Dominicans,  nor  the  Pope,  who 
were  the  natural  superiors  of  the  nuns,  had  been  in- 
formed of  any  thing  with  which  they  should  have  been 
made  acquainted.  This,  it  was  said,  was  a  suflicient 
proof  that  unlawful  means  had  been  taken  to  assist  the 
usurpation  of  the  rights  and  authority  of  the  Holy  See. 
Ricci,  who  saw  all  the  importance  of  such  an  accusa- 
tion, lost  no  time  in  proving  that  the  Dominican  nuns 
had  made  frequent  aj^peals  to  Rome  and  to  their  supe- 
riors, without  obtaining  a  reply.  They  had  especially 
addressed  Pius  VI.,  and  the  General  Bonadois,  but  in 
vain. 

9* 


102  SECRETS    OF 

One  of  the  most  important  circnmstances  in  this  sin- 
gular affair,  is  the  manner  in  which  the  Pope  and  the 
General  of  the  Dominicans  were  implicated  in  a  matter 
of  heresy,  profanation,  sacrilege,  impiety,  and  licen- 
tiousness,— a  matter  of  which  they  knew  all  the  details, 
but  which  they  seem  to  have  regarded  as  calling  for 
concealment  rather  than  punishment.  This  circum- 
stance will  make  every  truly  religious  mind  shudder. 
Besides  the  wrath  of  the  head  of  a  monastic  order  of 
shameful  celebrity,  and  of  the  hea,d  of  all  Catholics, 
against  those  who  could  not  extirpate  errors  and  put 
an  end  to  turpitude,  except  by  making  them  public, 
the  following  pieces  will  serve  to  demonstrate  com- 
pletely what  we  have  advanced — the  authority  of  the 
pious  Bishop  of  Pistoia. 

Pius  VI.  in  his  insolent  brief  to  Ricci,  dated  May, 
asserted  that  he  himself  would  not  have  dared  to  con- 
ceive suspicions  against  the  most  holy  order  of  the 
Do7?iinicans.  Abbe  Mengoni  had  but  little  trouble  in 
turning  this  childish  fear  into  ridicule.  He  proves 
that  the  Pope  might  easily  have  satisfied  himself  of 
the  exact  truth  of  all  that  the  Bishop  of  Pistoia  and 
Prato  had  written  to  him  relative  to  the  Dominican 
monks  and  nims.  He  had  only  to  direct  his  Nuncio 
at  Flctfence  to  search  the  archives  of  Pistoia,  and  he 
would  have  found  all  the  disorders  in  the  convents  of 
Tuscany  spiritually  directed  by  the  monks  of  Dominic, 
disorders  that  had  been  known  to  prevail  during  one 
hundred  and  forty  years.  Moreover,  should  not  the 
Pope  have  recollected  the  reasons  which  induced  him 
to  take  from  under  the  government  of  the  Dominicans 
five  convents  of  Siena,  Pisa,  and  Pistoia,  a  little  after 
the  denunciations  of  the  year  1774,  of  which  he  had  a 
perfect  knowledge  ? 

It  is  clear  from  a  letter  of  Foggini  to  Ricci,  written 
at  Rome,  July,  1781,  that  there  had  been  seen  a  sort 
of  confession  made  to  the  Pope  by  a  nun  of  Catherine 
of  Prato,  before  Ricci  was  informed  of  what  was  pass- 
ing in  that  convent,  and  which  had  undoubtedly  been 
put  into  the  hands  of  the  pontifical  Secretary  of  state. 


FEMALE     CONVENTS.  103 

Teresa  di  Gesu,  a  nun  of  Sepolcro,  wrote,  that  she  had 
made  Sister  Spisfhi  write  a  similar  confession  to  the 
General  of  the  Dominicans;  that  she  had  herself  ad- 
dressed the  General  relative  to  that  affair,  and  had 
concealed  from  him  nothing  of  all  that  had  come  to 
her  knowledge.  This  did  not  prevent  Pius  YI.  from 
asserting  in  his  hrief ;  "  That,  in  the  Secretary's  office, 
there  was  nothing  of  the  disorders  now  discovered." 

In  a  letter  from  Ricci  to  Seratti,  secretary  of  the 
Grand  Duke,  written  August,  1781,  he  says,  there  had 
just  been  found  the  letters  of  a  Capuchine  nun  of 
Borgo,  or  Sepolcro,  and  of  a  lay  sister  of  Spighi.  It  is 
plain  from  them,  "  That  the  facts  were  known  to 
many;  that  they  had  recourse  to  abjurations  with  the 
greatest  facility  ;  that  Monsignor  Ippoliti,  who  was 
almost  immediately  assured  that  they  had  laid  down 
their  errors,  had  found  out  something  wrong,"  &c. 

Other  letters  of  the  Capuchine,  prove  that  Spighi 
had  endeavored  to  seduce  her  ;  that  she  had  other 
companions  besides  Buonamici ;  that  these  were  also 
friends  of  the  Capuchine,  and  ceased  to  write  to  her 
when  she  spoke  plainly  to  Spighi,  and  dropped  the 
correspondence.  These  letters,  moreover,  prove  that 
information  was  given  at  Rome  ;  and  that  the  General, 
who  says  that  he  finds  nothing  in  his  archives,  must 
have  known  it  from  that  time. 

The  Advocate  Zanobetti,  in  a  letter  to  the  Bishop  of 
Pistoia,  written  from  Rome,  October,  1781,  says : 
"Every  week  this  haughty  General,  F.  Quinones,  of 
the  Dominicans,  is  at  a  dinner-party  of  infidels  and 
libertines."  Zanobetti  pitied  the  Pope,  w^ho  seemed 
ignorant  '-of  what  human  wickedness  is  under  the 
veil  of  hypocrisy,  and  with  the  certainty  of  impunity." 
\  "It  was  his  wish  to  praise  the  Dominicans,  in  his 
famous  brief  of  reproach  to  Ricci ;"  adds  the  Bishop's 
correspondent,  "  that  made  the  Pope  engage  so  warmly, 
and  with  so  much  discredit  to  himself,  in  a  matter  that 
makes  him  an  object  of  pity." 

In  a  letter  from  Paul  Delmare  to  Ricci,  Genoa, 
August,  1781,  he  says  :  "  In  Rome  itself,  whither  the 


104  SECRETS    OF 

recrular  orders  send  their  youths  to  study,  there  is  a 
college  where  infidelity  is  systematically  inculcated." 

Cardinal  Corsini,  M.  Foggini,  the  Avocat  Fei,  and 
the  Abbe  Martini,  who  was  at  Rome  to  be  consecrated 
Archbishop  of  Florence,  and  who  feared  the  same  dis- 
orders in  his  diocese,  determined  on  obtaining  from 
the  Pope  a  remedy  for  the  convents  of  Pistoia,  and 
such  a  remedy  as  might  be  applied  to  any,  where  a 
similar  evil  should  be  discovered.  But  they  were 
diverted  by  Fei,  who  was  himself  devoted  to  Mamachi 
and  the  Minervites ;  their  conduct  was,  in  conse- 
quence, so  uncertain,  that  the  Pope  thought  he  should 
be  able  to  take  advantage  of  tlieir  feebleness ;  and  he 
signed  a  brief  addressed  to  Ricci,  entirely  drawn  up  by 
Zaccaria,  an  ancient  Jesuit,  and  by  Mamachi,  the  most 
violent  of  the  Dominicans, devoted  to  the  Roman  Court. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  singular  propositions  con- 
tained in  this  brief  of  the  Pope,  and  particularly  of  the 
misplaced  and  unseasonable  eulogy  which  he  there 
passes  on  the  order  of  Dominic.  This  eulogy  is  fol- 
lowed by  one  on  the  Inquisition,  still  more  absurd 
than  the  first.  "  These  may  appear  paradoxes,"  says 
Abbe  Mengoni,  "but  it  is  certain  that  the  Pontiff  has 
commended  a  tribunal  that  is  a  dishonor  to  our  holy 
religion."  Pius  VI.  wished  to  withdraw  the  two  nuns 
of  Catherine  from  the  inexorable  public  justice  of  the 
Bishop,  to  give  them  to  the  secret  procedures  of  the 
Inquisition.  There  a  general  confession,  in  the  style 
of  those  they  had  already  made  so  often,  would  have 
not  only  obtained  them  entire  pardon,  but  also  have 
procured  them  the  means  of  resuming  their  old  course; 
as  that  tribunal  is  only  severe  towards  those  u-hose 
conduct  and  known  sentiments  migJit  influence  public 
opinion^  so  as  to  diminish  the  authority/  and  the  reve- 
nues of  the  clergy.  Mengoni  well  observes,  the  Inqui- 
sition was,  under  the  wise  Leopold,  only  a  vain  name 
in  Tuscany  ;  "  where,  far  from  giving  a  sanguinary 
monk  the  power  to  burn  people,  and  cruelly  persecute 
them,  this  tribunal  is  curbed." 

The  other  injurious  passages  of  the  Pope's  letter  to 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  105 

Ricci,   may  be  deduced  from  the  reply  which   the 
Bishop  of  Pistoia  made  him,  August,  1781. 

After  having  complained  bitterly  of  being  treated  by 
the  Pontiff  as  a  man  of  bad  faith,  as  a  fanatic,  a  har, 
a  calumniator,  a  seditious  person,  a  usurper  of  the 
rights  of  others,  &c. ;  Ricci  endeavors  to  evince  again 
what  he  had  already  proved  so  often  respecting  the 
Dominicans,  who  must  be  regarded  as  the  seducers  of 
the  nuns. 

"  It  is  certain,  that  the  connivance  of  the  provincials, 
priors,  and  confessors,  who  have  been  for  so  many 
years  with  this  society,  and  who  were  all  informed  of 
its  evils,  is  inexcusable.  If  I  became  apprehensive  of 
such  evil  having  spread  to  other  convents,  I  had  very 
great  reason  for  it,  since,  from  the  depositions  made 
six  years  as^o  by  the  nuns  of  Catherine,  and  of  which 
the  originals  are  in  the  Secretary's  office,  it  appears 
that  the  same  impious  opinions  entertained  by  the  two 
unfortunate  nuns,  were  held  and  taught,  though  not 
so  completely  reduced  to  system,  in  that  convent,  by 
some  Dominican  monks,  who  afterwards  went  as  con- 
fessors and  priors,  or  were  some  way  else  intei'ested 
in  the  government  of  these  other  convents." 

"He  then  repeats,  that  the  confessor,  on  taking  pos\ 
session  of  his  office,  used  openly  to  choose  a  Qnistress  \ 
among  the  nuns  ;  and  that,  when  any  of  them  were   / 
sick,  there  was  a  fete  at  the  convent.     The  confessor  / 
made  the  nuns  attend  him  at  table,  and  there  he  playecy 
cards   and   danced   with   them,   &c.     "  Need  we  be 
astonished,"  said  he,  "  if  the  disorders  of  so  many  nuns, 
who  had  been  all  tempted,  and  many  seduced,  should 
eventually  have  spread  through  the  town,  or  if  their 
scandalous  opinions  and  actions  should  have  been  the 
subject  of  conversation  in  public  circles  ?" 

Ricci  immediately  carried  the  brief  he  had  received 
to  Leopold,  who,  enraged  at  its  contents,  determined 
upon  replying-  to  it  himself  He  sent  a  very  strong 
remonstrance  to  Rome.  He  complained  in  it  of  the 
Pope's  conduct  to  the  Bishop,  whom  he  determined 
to  protect  with  all  his  power.     He   added,    that   he 


106  SECRETS    OF 

would  never  consent  that  the  nuns  should  be  delivered 
over  to  the  ecclesiastical  authority,  as  the  Pope  had 
ordered  ;  and  he  openly  threatened  to  provide  for  the 
reformation  of  all  the  convents  in  his  dominions  accord- 
ing to  his  own  discretion,  if  the  Pope  refused  to  sub- 
mit them  to  the  spiritual  authority  of  their  ordinary. 

The  Court  of  Rome  immediately  replied,  that  the 
Grand  Duke  might  follow  his  own  discretion  Avith 
regard  to  the  two  nuns,  and  that  the  other  convents 
in  Tuscany  should  in  future  be  under  the  power  of 
the  bishops  only.  The  pope  found  himself  compelled 
to  write  to  Ricci  in  terms  totally  opposite  to  those  ex- 
pressed in  the  brief,  and  to  grant  him  all  he  asked. 
This  unexpected  proceeding  of  Leopold  confounded 
both  the  Holy  See  and  its  partisans  in  Tuscany,  whose 
steps  it  was  necessary  incessantly  to  watch,  in  order  to 
take  away  the  possibility  of  their  re-union. 

Ricci  mentions,  that  the  Spanish  minister  at  Rome 
sent  the  papers  relative  to  this  affair  to  his  court,  to 
serve  as  a  model  for  the  reforms  of  a  similar  kind 
which  they  proposed  to  undertake  in  Spain.  Notliing 
is  more  useful  than  thus  to  show  that  correct  actions 
are  at  the  same  time  honorable,  and  that,  in  proportion 
as  they  extend  their  beneficial  efforts,  they  increase  the 
reputation  of  their  authors.  The  circumstance  just 
mentioned  is  also  of  importance  in  showing  that  Rome 
never  yields  but  to  necessity  ;  and  that  feebleness  and 
timidity  find  justice  and  right  of  no  avail,  in  a  contest 
with  that  vain  and  selfish  court. 

The  Pope,  who  had  been  completely  overcome  in  the 
affair  of  Ricci,  took  his  revenge  on  the  General  of  the 
Dominicans,  whom  he  punished  by  two  terrible  repri- 
mands for  having  disguised  the  true  state  of  things  at 
Prato,  and  thus  brousfht  his  court  into  such  ahumiliat- 
mg  situation.  He  also  reproached  him  with  having 
permitted  certain  bad  theses  to  be  discussed  in  the 
convent  of  Mark  at  Florence  ;  and  in  fact,  so  terrified 
the  poor  monk,  that  he  left  the  pontifical  audience  in 
such  a  condition  of  grief  and  fright,  as  to  be  unable  to 
find  the  door  of  the  apartment.     The  Grand  Duke,  on 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  107 

his  part,  ordered  the  Avocat  Fei  before  him,  and  gave 
him  a  similar  castigation  for  his  want  of  good  service. 

As  soon  as  Ricci  had  obtained  his  authority,  he  did 
every  thing  in  his  power  to  soften  the  affliction  which 
the  nuns  felt  from  his  success.  He  gave  them  permis- 
sion to  choose  their  own  confessor  out  of  a  hst  he  laid  be- 
fore them  of  seculars  and  regulars.  They  expressed 
the  most  lively  desire  to  have,  at  least,  a  chaplain  of 
their  own  order  ;  but  Ricci  resisted  all  their  solicita- 
tions. He  had  been  too  well  taught  the  dissolute 
character  of  these  monks,  to  remit  his  severity  ;  and 
Leopold  had  himself  prohibited  any  indulgence  of  the 
kind  requested.  So  determined  was  he,  therefore,  in 
his  resistance,  that  he  refused  the  permission  to  the 
convent  of  Vincent,  to  which  the  Archbishop  of  Flo- 
rence had  promised  this  favor  in  the  name  of  Ricci, 
who,  he  falsely  said,  had  given  him  his  word  on  this 
subject.  The  affair  terminated  in  the  disgrace  of  the 
Archbishop.  From  this  epoch  Ricci  dates  the  enmity 
of  Martini,  and  as  a  consequence,  that  of  Seratti ; 
whom  the  prelate  had  no  difficulty  in  irritating  against 
the  protegt  of  their  common  master. 

The  two  affairs,  that  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  and  that 
of  the  Dominicans,  united  both  the  disciples  of 
Dominic  and  those  of  Loyola  against  Ricci.  He  was 
attacked  on  all  sides,  and  it  was  only  the  esteem  and 
particular  protection  of  Leopold,  that  enabled  him  to 
resist  the  intrigues  and  mischievous  intentions  of  his 
adversaries.  Even  this,  however,  was  another  cause 
of  enmity  against  him;  for  it  made  him  disliked  by  all 
the  ambitious  members  of  the  Tuscan  court,  among 
whom  especially  may  be  mentioned  Seratti,  the  friend 
both  of  Martini  and  the  Nuncio. 

About  this  time  Ricci  had  several  disputes,  both  with 
Rome  and  the  prelates,  about  the  keeping  of  Lent.  It 
was  his  constant  desire  to  bring  the  church  as  much  as 
possible  back  to  its  ancient  dicipline.  His  attempts  in 
this  respect  appear  to  have  been  dictated  by  the  same  good 
sense,  which  guided  him  in  his  other  reforms.  He  in 
some  measure  succeeded,  but  brought  on  himself,  as  in 


108  SECRETS    OP 

the  other  affairs  he  took  in  hand,  a  whole  host  of  oppo- 
nents. Another  circumstance  also,  which  gave  him  a 
great  deal  of  uneasiness,  was  the  dangerous  and  fanat- 
ical conduct  of  the  Lent  preachers,  whose  manner  of 
exercising  their  ministry  had  obtained  them,  in  many- 
places,  the  name  of  Sacred  Comedians.  These  men 
carefully  sought  the  most  frequented  churches,  the 
pulpits  most  in  repute,  and  used  every  means  to  get 
themselves  chosen  by  the  magistrates,  or  by  those  who 
had  the  appointment.  It  was  yet  worse  in  the  country. 
They  preached  sermons  there,  which  they  had  received 
by  inheritance,  or  which  were  drawn  from  the  archives 
of  their  convents.  From  his  first  arrival  at  Pistoia, 
the  zealous  Bishop  opposed  these  missionaries,  and 
succeeded  in  deterring  the  timid  from  continuing  their 
mischievous  practices. 

During-  the  Lent  of  17S2,  the  monk  who  preached 
at  the  cathedral  had  the  bokhiess  to  abuse  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  government  in  no  very  measured  terms. 
Kicci  admonished  him  to  refrain  from  all  such  expres- 
sions in  future.  The  missionary  promised  to  obey  the 
injunction  ;  but  he  almost  immediately  broke  his  word. 
The  Bishop  believed  himself  called  upon  to  put  a  stop 
to  this  scandal.  The  preacher  was  strongly  repri- 
manded. He,  on  the  other  hand,  threatened  to  leave 
the  city,  which  he  knew  would  give  rise  to  con- 
siderable disturbance  ;  but  at  the  moment  measures 
were  about  to  be  taken  against  him,  he  was  seized 
with  a  panic,  submitted  himself,  and  gave  a  promise 
of  never  again  committing  the  same  error.  About 
that  time,  the  Archbishop  Martini,  being  opposed  in 
all  his  conduct  to  Ricci,  imposed  upon  the  regulars  in 
his  diocese  who  had  no  cure  of  souls,  the  duty  of  cat- 
echising in  the  churches  on  Sundays  and  feast-days. 
This  order  was  given,  says  Ricci,  to  astonish  all  those 
who  knew  the  just  complaints  which  had  been  made 
at  the  Council  of  Trent,  against  the  teaching  of  mordis. 
The  Secretary  for  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Prince  cited 
the  example  of  the  Florentine  prelate  with  much  ap- 
probation to  the  other  bishops,  and  Ricci  saw  himself 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  109 

obliged  to  appeal  to  Leopold.  Having  received  re- 
newed promises  of  protection,  he  issued  a  decree,  for- 
bidding any  regular's  preaching  in  his  diocese,  before 
his  doctrine  and  his  principles  had  undergone  an 
examination.  The  result  was,  that  the  monks  no 
longer  presented  themselves  as  preachers  ;  and  the 
greater  part  of  those  already  engaged,  retired.  He 
also  obliged  the  regulars  before  preaching,  even  in 
their  own  churches,  to  2^0  and  receive  the  benediction 
of  the  cures.  This  raised  more  enemies  against  him 
than  all  he  had  before  done. 

In  supplying  the  void  which  the  want  of  sermons 
had  left,  he  ordered  the  cures  and  their  assistants  to 
give  expositions  of  the  sacrament.  Another  means 
employed  for  the  instruction  of  the  people,  was  the 
publication  of  a  good  catechism.  Ricci  chose  from 
among  all  the  Jansenist  catechisms  that  which  seemed 
the  best  adapted  for  his  purpose  :  those  of  Colbert  and 
of  Mesenguy,  otherwise  so  excellent,  were  rejected,  for 
fear  of  giving  unnecessary  otfence  to  the  Court  of 
Rome,  from  which  it  was  necessary  to  keep  all  sus- 
picion of  false  doctrine.  He  preferred  the  catechism 
of  Gourlin,  which  had  received  the  approval  of  the 
Inquisition,  and  had  been  recommended  by  Ippoliti, 
his  predecessor.  Ricci  prepared  the  publication  by  a 
pastoral  letter,  in  which  he  attacks  the  various  errors 
which  had  crept  into  the  Church  by  departing  from 
the  study  of  the  Scriptures. 

Rome  could  scarcely  retain  her  indignation,  when 
Leopold  suppressed  the  taxes,  all  of  which  Tuscany 
had  hitherto  scrupulously  paid  into  her  treasury.  She, 
however,  entirely  lost  her  patience  at  the  abolition  of 
the  tribunal  of  the  Inquisition.  This  tribunal  had 
been  always  held  by  the  Frlres  Mineurs  Conventnels. 
The  imprudence  of  an  Inquisitor,  contributed  to  de- 
prive it  of  its  i^ower  under  the  government  of  the 
House  of  Lorraine.  Thomas  Crudeli,  a  man  of  letters, 
at  that  time  a  prisoner  in  the  dungeons  of  the  Holy 
Office,  found  means  to  inform  his  friends  of  his  situa- 
tion, and  to  assure  them  that,  if  he  was  not  speedily 

10 


no  SECRETS    OP 

freed,  the  bad  treatment  which  he  received,  acting  upon 
a  dehcate  and  feeble  frame,  would  inevitably  prove 
fatal  to  him.  Count  de  Richecourt,  the  head  of  the 
Regency,  was  informed  by  those  who  had  the  boldness 
to  interest  themselves  in  the  affair,  of  all  that  had 
occurred.  He  instantly  delivered  Crudeli  from  those 
wretches,  and  demanded  of  the  Court  of  Vienna  the 
abolition  of  the  odious  Inquisition.  A  long  negotiation 
was  entered  into  with  Rome.  The  Tuscan  Govern- 
ment would  not  interfere,  and  was  contented  with 
modifying  the  power  of  tlie  Holy  Office.  Pius  VI., 
however,  would  yield  nothing;  and  his  resentment 
against  Joseph  and  Leopold  became  so  violent,  that  he 
suffered  the  most  inflammatory  pamphlets  to  be  pub- 
lished against  them.  But  his  anger  was  chiefly  di- 
rected against  Ricci ;  who,  it  was  believed,  had  insti- 
gated the  Duke  to  all  these  things :  but  the  Duke  was 
too  enlightened  to  brook  such  a  submission,  and  was 
not  willing  to  share  the  credit  of  his  measures  with 
any  one. 

The  spring  of  the  year  1782  was  so  excessively 
rainy,  that  the  crops  were  near  being  all  destroyed, 
and  every  measure  which  superstition  could  invent, 
was  employed  to  remove  the  threatened  calamity. 
Ricci  opposed  these  superstitious  practices,  and  took 
occasion  to  give  many  salutary  instructions  on  the 
subject  of  image-worship,  many  of  the  greatest  errors 
of  which  he  endeavored  to  extirpate.  A  long  contest 
with  the  monks  was  the  consequence.  At  first  it  w^as 
only  a  war  of  words,  but  his  adversaries  at  last  had 
recourse  to  the  lowest  kind  of  abuse.  The  priests  who 
were  attached  to  Ricci,  were  abused  in  the  public 
streets,  and  insulted  with  popular  songs  containing 
every  species  of  invective.  Out  of  Tuscany,  the  whole 
order  of  the  Franciscans  took  part  in  the  dispute,  till 
at  last  even  the  friends  of  the  Bishop  began  to  suspect 
that  his  procedure  was  imprudent,  and  calculated  to 
favor  the  sect  of  the  Phantasiasts. 
.  About  this  time  the  Grand  Duke  siguified  his  ap- 
proval of  Ricci's  plan  for   the   establishmeut  ot   nn 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  HI 

Ecclesiastical  Academy  at  Pistoia  ;  and  that  he  might 
have  a  fit  situation  for  it,  gave  him  the  convent  of  the 
Olivetains,  which  he  was  on  the  point  of  suppressing. 
Armed  with  this  decree,  the  Bishop,  for  fear  of  fraud, 
unexpectedly  signified  it  to  the  monks  when  they  were 
assembled  for  dinner  in  the  refectory.  At  the  same 
time  he  took  possession  of  the  convent,  and  of  the 
country-houses  which  belonged  to  the  monks.  He  put 
his  seal  upon  all  the  papers,  and  had  an  inventory 
made  of  the  difterent  efiects,  and  of  the  furniture,  with- 
out causing  any  noise  or  disturbance.  The  nobles  of 
Pistoia  could  not  repress  their  chagrin  at  this  event, 
which  deprived  them  of  a  retreat  where  they  placed 
their  children  who  interfered  with  their  ambitious 
projects ;  and  furnished  them  with  the  means  of  dissi- 
pating, either  by  gaming  or  conversation,  their  languor 
and  sloth. 

Some  proofs  exist  of  the  amusements  followed  by 
those  devout  nobles.  The  Abbe's  tables  du  quartier 
were  found  covered  with  the  reckonings  of  a  game, 
which  showed  the  manner  of  passing  their  evenings. 
At  another  place  cards  were  discovered ;  and  the 
library  of  the  convent,  which  consisted  of  only  about  a 
hundred  volumes,  was  in  the  most  miserable  state  of 
filth  and  confusion.  The  /Scriptures,  divided  into 
several  little  volumes,  were  not  even  complete.  Such 
was  the  state  of  the  library,  that  there  was  nothing  in  it 
of  any  value,  but  some  editions  of  the  year  1400 ;  the 
rest  consisted  of  the  old  casuists,  and  other  such  au- 
thors, so  that  Leopold  said  he  would  not  give  Jive  shil- 
lings for  the  whole  !  Such  was  the  state  of  this  estab- 
lishment, as  respected  its  interior ;  but  the  building 
itself  had  been  just  repaired,  and  Ricci  was  overjoyed 
at  being  enabled  by  the  acquisition  of  it  to  open  his 
academy.  His  first  object,  after  obtaining  this  situa- 
tion, was  to  find  a  good  theological  professor  ;  and  not 
hoping  to  obtain  one  in  Tuscany,  he  applied  to  the 
celebrated  Tamberini,  head  of  the  new  theological 
school  at  Pavia,  who  sent  him  Jean-Baptistc  Ganzi,  of 
the  same  school,  on  whose  principles  he  might  rely. 


112  SECRETS  OF 

In  all  his  subsequent  measures  he  did  nothing  without 
consulting  his  friends, — the  Jansenists  of  France  and 
Holland.  The  success  of  the  institution  answered  his 
labor !  and  when  at  his  own  fall,  the  institution  also 
fell,  he  expressed  the  deepest  regret  at  the  event,  and 
at  the  barbarous  conduct  of  those  by  whom  it  was 
occasioned. 

Ricci  was  extremely  desirous  of  establishing  moral 
conferences  in  his  diocese,  not  merely  formal,  as  they 
had  hitherto  been,  but  such  as  were  likely  to  produce 
real  practical  good.  This  was  at  the  epoch  when 
Leopold  had  reduced  the  regulars  within  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  their  bishops.  Ricci  took  advantage  of  it  to 
make  them  assist  the  seculars  in  the  monthly  confer- 
ences ;  and  succeeded  beyond  his  expectation.  The 
order  he  had  received  to  inspect  the  studies  of  the  re- 
gulars, induced  him  to  visit  the  convent  of  the  Mineurs 
Observantiiis  at  Giaccherino,  near  Pistoia,  in  order  to 
examine  the  library.  The  collection  of  books  in  this 
convent  was  valuable  and  well  chosen  ;  ^'  but  such," 
says  Ricci,  ''was  the  sloth  and  bad  management  of 
the  monks,  that  it  was  left  in  a  state  which  rendered 
it  perfectly  useless  to  the  pupils.  The  room  where  the 
books  were  kept  was  the  least  known,  and  the  most 
seldom  frequented  in  the  house.  There  were  even 
some  superiors  of  convents  v'ho  could  not  sciy  xohere 
the  library  was^  and  who  followed  Ricci  to  discover  in 
what  2J'^f^'>^t  of  the  convent  the  hooks  were  to  he  found. 
At  Giaccherino,  the  library  was  in  a  little  room  devoted 
to  the  reception  of  all  old  and  useless  papers.  The  cob- 
webs which  hung  from  the  ceiling  covered  the  unfor- 
tunate visitor  every  step  he  set,  and  which  he  had  been 
prepared  to  expect,  from  the  difficulty  experienced  by 
the  monks  in  finding  the  key  of  the  room."  A  promise, 
however,  was  given  of  amendment,  and  the  Bishop 
went  away  satisfied.  A  similar  circumstance  took 
place  at  the  convent  of  the  Paolotti  at  Pistoia ;  from 
which  the  Provincial,  thinking  that  hooks  icere  a  use- 
less kind  of  furniture^  had  sent  all  it  possessed  to  the 
convent  of  the  same  order  at  Florence,  to  obtain  the 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  113 

thanks  of  the  monks  in  the  capital.  It  will  not  cause 
surprise,  to  find  that  the  regulars  were  not  much  de- 
voted to  study ;  so  far,  indeed,  was  this  from  beins:  the 
case,  that  they  gave  themselves  up  to  every  kind  of  dis- 
sipation, and  when  some  of  them  were  not  so  disposed, 
they  were  even  fvohibited  by  the  superiors  from  iising 
hooks  purchased  with  their  own  money. 

Ricci  examined  some  of  the  students  at  Giaccherino, 
to  discover  the  state  of  reli odious  knowledofe  amonor 
them,  and  found  them  in  deplorable  ignorance.  Ques- 
tions the  most  useless  were  discussed  in  the  most  bar- 
barous style  of  scholastic  folly,  while  the  great  doctrines 
of  religion  were  treated  in  a  manner  so  ridiculous,  that 
even  Molina  himself  professed  himself  offended.  The 
infallibility  of  the  Pope,  his  absolute  temporal  power 
over  princes,  and  all  the  most  silly  doctrines  of  the 
Court  of  Rome,  were  stoutly  defended  by  them,  and 
made  to  support  the  most  preposterous  opinions. 

"  The  Franciscans,"  says  Ricci,  '•  are  for  the  most 
part,  in  the  present  day,  without  the  least  learning, 
even  without  the  principles  of  grammar.  Latin  is  al- 
most entirely  unknown  among  them,  and  when  tried, 
they  were  unable  to  translate  the  decisions  of  the 
Council  of  Trent,  the  Roman  Catechism,  or  the  tiis- 
torical  books  of  the  Scriptures.  They  were  obliged  to 
employ  a  dictionary  to  construe  their  commonest  les- 
sons ;  and  the  cleverest  among  them  never  thought  of 
looking  into  the  subjects  v:hich  they  were  appointed 
to  teach^  till  they  were  made  doctors^  or  professors  of 
theology  I  Others  less  clever,  were  made  preachers  or 
confessors ;  in  which  capacities  they  only  consulted 
some  old  and  well-known  casuist,  or  preached  the  ser- 
mons they  had  found  in  the  convent."  Ricci  employed 
every  means  in  his  power  to  remedy  these  abuses,  but 
in  vain  ;  and  he  saw  his  best  and  most  useful  projects 
either  eluded  by  art,  or  stopped  by  the  power  of  the 
monks,  or  the  bad  conduct  of  Leopold's  ministers. 

The  Bishop  found,  that  to  commence  an  attack  on 
the  7nonks  is  to  bid  farewell  for  ever  to  all  peace  and 
tranquillity.     The  first  antagonist  he  had  to  meet,  in 

10* 


114  SECRETS    OF 

his  endeavor  to  do  away  with  the  prerogatives  of  the 
monks  in  his  diocese,  was  the  monk  Lampredi,  to 
whom,  very  imprudently,  had  heen  given  the  power 
of  visiting  the  convents  of  his  order,  in  quahty  of  Pro- 
vincial. Ricci  opposed  him,  and  succeeded  in  prevent- 
ing Lampredi  from  making  his  fortune,  which  a  visitor 
on  such  an  occasion  is  almost  sure  of  doing.  The 
same  man  wished,  on  some  foolish  pretence,  to  remove 
the  college  of  Giaccherino  elsewhere ;  but  the  Bishop 
prevented  any  such  change  taking  place,  saying,  that 
such  a  thing  could  not  be  done  without  an  express  or- 
der from  the  Prince.  Every  victory  which  Ricci  thus 
obtained,  furnished  him  with  a  reason  for  writing  to 
Leopold,  whom  he  a.ssured  of  the  possibility  of  reform- 
ing the  whole  monkish  system,  which  was  principally 
to  be  done  by  taking  away  all  the  privilegss  of  the  par- 
ticular monastic  dignities,  and  by  making  every  con- 
vent a  separate  isolated  establishment ;  thus  doing 
away  with  that  vmperhim  in  impcrio. 

The  Bishop  was  diligent,  notwithstanding  all  oppo- 
sition, in  scattering  abroad  the  most  useful  books.  One 
of  these  was  the  Opiisculum,  in  which  the  Lieutenant- 
Governor  of  Pistoia  pretended  that  the  opinions  of 
Calvin  and  Zuinglius  were  supported.  The  question 
was  judged  by  the  theologians  of  Florence  ;  and  being 
decided  in  the  negative,  the  Lieutenant  only  got  a  sharp 
rebuke  from  Leopold  for  his  officious  zeal.  Ricci  was 
next  charged  with  the  superintendence  of  three  con- 
gregations of  priests  at  Pistoia ;  and  either  to  reform 
or  suppress  them,  as  he  saw  fit.  He  employed  the 
gentlest  means  to  bring  these  ecclesiastics  to  reason, 
but  in  vain  ;  and  was  then  obliged  to  have  recourse 
to  compulsion.  He  also  reformed  an  abuse  which  had 
been  long  existing.  The  prebendaries  of  the  cathedral 
of  Pistoia  enjoyed  a  very  rich  revenue  Avithout  perform- 
ing any  service,  which  they  got  done  for  them  by 
chaplains,  to  whom  they  paid  a  very  small  stipend, 
and  who  were,  consequently,  th^  most  ignorant  of  the 
clergy. 

This  took  place  in  1782.     The  following  year,  Ric- 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  115 

ci's  enemies  commenced  their  attacks  with  renewed 
violence.  Placards  were  put  upon  the  cathedral  gate, 
with  the  inscription  "  Orate  pro  episcopo  nostro  hetero- 
doxo" — Pray  for  our  heretic  hisJtop  !  He  was  accused 
of  heresy,  and  anonymous  letters  were  sent  to  him  full 
of  menaces  and  abuse.  Nor  were  these  threats  alto- 
gether without  meaning ;  for  his  domestics  had  been 
bribed  to  admit  people  into  his  study;  and  he  was  as- 
sured that,  on  his  going  to  his  seat  in  the  country,  a 
conspiracy  had  been  formed  to  take  aw^ay  his  life, 
which  design  an  assassin  had  offered  to  put  in  execu- 
tion for  five  hundred  crowns.  So  many  dangers  alien- 
ated from  him  his  friends  and  relatives.  The  ministers 
of  the  Grand  Duke,  and  even  his  colleagues,  took  ad- 
vantage of  it  to  oppose  his  designs,  and  to  raise  against 
him  new  enemies  at  court.  Rome  also  entered  into 
the  conspiracy,  and  condemned  his  Catechism ;  but 
the  Bishop,  taking  advantage  of  the  approbation  which 
the  Inquisition  had  expressed  respecting  that  of  Venice, 
retained  his  Catechism  in  use,  without  taking  notice 
of  the  prohibition. 

Leopold  wished  to  render  his  reform  general,  and 
every  where  sent  the  same  instructions  and  the  same 
orders,  but  he  was  not  always  seconded  and  obeyed. 
About  this  time  he  addressed  a  circular  to  all  the 
bishops  of  his  states,  sending  them  at  the  same  time 
the  pastoral  letter  of  the  Archbishop  of  Saltzburg,  of 
June,  1782.  "  Leopold  intended,"  says  Ricci,  "to  lead 
the  people  committed  to  his  care,  gradually  to  remove 
from  the  forms  of  worship  all  the  superstitious  observ- 
ances that  their  own  ignorance,  or  that  of  the  clergy, 
or  the  ambitious  and  avaricious  spirit  of  the  latter,  had 
mingled  with  them ;  and  if  he  succeeded,  he  hoped  to 
overcome  the  indifference  of  reasoners,  and  the  incre- 
dulity of  the  learned  towards  religion^  the  natural  re- 
sults of  the  gross  debasement  of  the  jjopular  ivorship  .'" 

This  was  equally  the  object  of  Ricci,  who,  as  soon 
as  he  received  from  the  Grand  Duke  the  pastoral  letter 
of  the  German  Archbishop,  hastened  to  follow  up  the 
views  of  the  Prince  his  protector.     He  reprinted  the 


116  SECRETS    OF 

letter,  and  sent  a  copy  to  each  of  the  clergy,  whom  he 
begged  to  inform  him  of  what  was  wanting  to  be  done 
in  his  diocese,  in  order  that  God  might  there  be  wor- 
shipped "  in  spirit  and  in  truth."  The  cures  replied 
immediately ;  and  it  was  on  their  answers  that  Ricci 
founded  the  reforms  he  introduced  into  his  diocese,  and 
organized  those  which  he  afterwards  reduced  into  a 
system,  and  which  he  fixed  definitively  on  occasion  of 
his  famous  synod. 

He  hmited  himself,  for  the  present,  to  "  restricting 
the  functions  of  the  priests  to  the  explanation  of  the 
Gospel  during  high  mass,  to  the  Catechism  before  and 
after  vespers,  and  to  benediction  at  the  end  of  the  cere- 
mony. He  moreover  ordered,  that  the  litanies  should 
be  sung  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  and  that  not  more  than 
fourteen  candles  should  be  lighted  !"  The  people,  thus 
deprived  of  the  splendors  of  the  ceremony,  murmured 
more  loudly  than  ever.  Besides  this,  the  Bishop,  that 
the  people  might  be  induced  to  frequent  their  own 
parishes,  ordered  private  chapels  to  be  shut  on  Sun- 
days and  holidays  ;  and  forbade  certain  splendid  cere- 
monies to  be  performed,  which  attracted  the  people 
from  their  labor,  and  from  attending  their  parochial 
churches. 

The  Grand  Duke,  seeing  that  all  went  according  to 
his  wishes  in  the  diocess  of  Pistoia  and  Prato,  loaded 
them  with  his  favors.  He  granted  to  the  seminary  of 
Prato  the  convent  of  the  RecoUets,  and  gratified  the 
new  seminary  of  Pistoia  with  the  suppressed  convent 
of  Claire.  He  gave  the  Dominican  convent  to  the 
Dominican  nuns,  for  the  purpose  of  being  employed 
as  a  school,  under  the  protection  of  the  Government. 
He  inspected  the  improvements  made  by  Ricci  in  his 
diocess,  and  was  delighted  to  see  that  he  had  suppress- 
ed the  number  of  altars,  allowing  only  one  in  each 
church.  "  He  encouraged  me,"  says  Ricci,  "  to  make 
the  same  reforms  in  all  my  diocess.  The  project, 
however,  was  interrupted." 

The  institution  for  the  women  styled  Abb  and  07i  ate, 
was  now  removed  to  the  convent  which  the  Dominican 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  117 

nuns  had  quitted.  Ricci,  hoping  in  time  to  form  use- 
ful women  and  good  mothers  of  famihes,  obtained  per- 
mission of  the  Prince  to  restore  that  institution  to  its 
original  simplicity.  The  women  were  now  seen  pub- 
licly at  church  on  Sundays  and  other  holidays.  Op- 
portunities were  afforded  them  to  marry,  and  to  vend 
silk  handkerchiefs,  for  the  manufacture  of  which  they 
were  famous.  The  noble  governors  of  the  hospital 
thought  these  reforms  too  radical,  and  addressed  them- 
selves to  the  Grand  Duke  ;  but  the  latter  ratified  all 
Ricci  had  done. 

Unfortunately,  all  the  measures  which  had  been  taken 
to  produce  a  reform  by  the  suppression  of  the  cures  of 
the  old  congregations,  were  eluded,  or  falsely  interpre- 
ted, in  Tuscany,  where  their  execution  was  committed 
to  persons  who  brought  them  into  contempt.  Rome 
forgot  not  to  assist  in  this.  Defamatory  libels  were 
every  where  circulated  against  the  Grand  Duke  and 
the  Emperor,  and  sedition  was  preached  from  a  variety 
of  pulpits.  Leopold  was  accused  of  changing,  like 
Henry  VIII.  of  England,  the  ancient  faith  ;  and  the 
doctrine  of  Ricci  was  represented  as  full  of  heresy. 
None  of  the  benefits  produced  by  the  new  law  were 
acknowledged  by  these  blind  bigots  ;  and  it  was  only 
fear  which  prevented  their  opposing  its  execution,  when 
Leopold  showed  himself  decidedly  resolved  to  main- 
tain it.  "When  a  nation,"  says  Ricci,  "has  blindly 
submitted  for  ages  to  the  domination  of  priests  and 
nobles,  these  latter  do  not  neglect  to  profit  by  their 
respective  situations.  Although  naturally  adverse  to 
each  other,  they  league  together  to  attack  those  who 
put  their  privileges  in  danger,  and  who  endeavor  to 
break  the  spell  by  which  the  people  are  bound." 


118  SECRETS    OF 


CHAPTER     VII 


Ecclesiastical  Assembly  at  Florence. — Acts  passed  by  it. — Answers  of  the 
Bishops. 

The  Episcopal  assembly  of  Florence  is  less  known 
out  of  Tuscany,  than  the  Synod  of  Pistoia  ;  yet  its 
history  and  its  acts,  will  be  interesting  to  those  who 
are  desirous  of  knowing  the  principal  opponents  of  the 
ecclesiastical  reforms  projected  by  Leopold.  We  shall 
add  to  it  a  few  documents  relative  to  the  jurisdiction 
over  the  church  iDhicJt  was  exercised  by  the  civil 
powers.  They  Avere  printed  during  the  lifetime  of 
Leopold,  and  were  intended  to  enlighten  his  clergy, 
and  prepare  the  way  for  those  measures  to  which  he 
was  desirous  that  they  should  agree,  for  the  general 
welfare  of  the  Tuscans. 

I.  One  of  the  seven  quarto  volumes  which  contain 
the  acts  alluded  to,  is  entitled,  "History  of  the  Assembly 
of  the  Archbishops  and  Bishops  of  Tuscany,  held  at 
Florence  in  1787."  It  was  printed  at  Florence,  in 
1788  ;  and  drawn  up  as  well  as  the  other  six  volumes, 
by  the  Abbe  Reginald  Tanzini. 

The  preface  contains  a  deplorable  picture  of  the 
ignorance  and  servility  of  the  Tuscan  priests  at  that 
period. 

"  The  famous  constitution  Umgenitus^^  it  is  observed, 
"which  encountered  so  much  opposition  in  France,  was 
received  in  Tuscany  without  the  slightest  objection  or 
hesitation  ;  for  in  a  synod  of  Pistoia  held  in  1721,  it  was 
placed  immediately  after  a  short  confession  of  faith. 

"  Not  only  were  the  Bulls  of  the  Popes  considered 
as  so  many  irrevocable  laws,  which  were  not  subject 
to  the  smallest  explanation  ;  but  also,  all  the  decrees 
and  consultations  of  the  Romish  Congregations.  If  a 
book  Avas  inserted  in  the  Index  Expurgatorius,  it  was 
a  sufficient  reason  for  ordering  it  to  be  burned,  or  for 
locking  it  up  in  some  inaccessible  corner,  to  serve  as 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  119 

food  for  worms,  with  the  Koran,  and  writings  of  atheists 
and  sceptics. 

"  Every  action,  and  every  faulty  and  inconsiderate 
expression,  which  had  happened  to  give  offence  to  any 
hypocritical  or  ignorant  female,  were  viewed  in  the 
li2:ht  of  crimes  which  it  was  proper  to  bring  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  Inquisition,  and  to  punish  in  a  more 
terrible  manner  than  ordinary  offences  against  the  laws 
of  civil  society. 

"  The  Count  delta  Gherardesca,  Archbishop  of  Flo- 
rence, with  Incontri,the  able  opponent  of  the  Casuists, 
and  even  Martini,  who  were  his  successors,  labored 
to  dissipate  such  gross  ignorance.  The  first  had 
the  Catechism  of  Montpelier  translated  into  Italian, 
and  distributed  throughout  his  diocess.  Rome  con- 
demned the  translation,  and  the  prelate  died  of  chagrin." 
Bishop  Alamanni  exerted  himself  in  the  same  way  to 
diffuse  information  through  Pistoia  and  Prato.  "The 
ignorance  in  that  diocess  was  so  deep-rooted  and  scan- 
dalous, that  many  of  the  priests  not  only  did  not  under- 
stand, but  could  not  even  read  Latin."  Alamanni's 
vicar,  who  had  the  character  of  being  the  most  learned 
person  in  his  diocess,  warmly  opposed  the  plan  of  insti- 
tuting a  theological  professorship,  under  pretence  "that 
it  Avas  dangerous  to  alloiv  the  young  clergy  to  investi- 
gate the  evidences  of  religion^  and  become  acquainted 
with  the  arguments  which  had  been  employed  in 
attacking  it." 

It  was  the  doctrine  of  Probabilism  with  which 
Alamanni  had  to  contend ;  and  which  he  resisted  suc- 
cessfully, though  not  without  much  disagreement,  by 
opposing  to  it  the  morality  of  Concina.  Such  was  the 
ungovernable  violence  of  the  two  parties,  that  they 
had  recourse  not  only  to  calumny,  but  to  blows  ;  and 
the  Government  was  finally  obliged  to  banish  the  heads 
of  the  Anti-Concinniste  faction. 

Ippoliti,  who  succeeded  him,  followed  his  example. 
The  writings  of  the  monks  of  Port-Royal,  Arnauld, 
Nicole,  Duguet,  Gourlin,  and  duesnel,  were  dissemi- 
nated during  the  time  that  he  was  Bishop  ;  and  Ricci, 
finally  completed  their  triumph. 


120  SECRETS    OF 

The  diocesses  of  Colle  and  Chiusi  followed  the  same 
example. 

Next  follows  a  statistical  account  of  the  ecclesias- 
tical state  of  Tuscany.  In  17845  the  Grand  Duchy- 
con  tained  the  astonishing  number  of  7,957  secular 
priests  ;  2,581  persons  in  orders  of  an  inferior  rank  ; 
2,433  regular  priests,  with  1,627  lay-brothers,  distri- 
buted over  two  hundred  and  thirteen  convents;  besides 
7,670  nuns,  occupying  a  hundred  and  thirty-six  estab- 
lishments of  seclusion. 

Then  succeeds  a  long  enumeration  of  reforms  eifect- 
ed  by  the  Grand  Duke,  before  convoking  that  assembly, 
which  was  to  put  the  finishing  stroke  to  his  ecclesias- 
tical designs,  to  prepare  their  ratification,  and  to  give 
notice  to  the  approaching  national  council  of  the 
measures  which  he  intended  it  to  complete  and  put  in 
force. 

Leopold  endeavored  to  give  fresh  vigor  to  ecclesias- 
tical studies  by  the  foundation  of  academies,  which 
should  be  strictly  confined  to  such  an  object ;  and  he 
strongly  inculcated  on  the  bishops  the  necessity  of 
keeping  a  vigilant  eye  on  the  morals  of  the  clergy,  and 
of  admitting  no  one  into  the  priesthood,  who  was  not 
in  every  respect  worthy  of  becoming  a  member  of  it. 
He  farther  adopted  every  possible  measure  for  prevent- 
ing the  too  great  poverty,  and  consequent  contempt,  of 
the  clergy ;  he  rendered  the  curacies  perpetual,  and 
compelled  the  curates  to  reside,  and  to  perform  their 
duties  with  punctuality.  Next,  he  abolished  the  ex- 
emptions and  noxious  privileges  enjoyed  by  the  regu- 
lar clergy ;  and  it  was  his  desire  that  they  should 
neither  be  dependent  on  Rome,  or  any  superior,  or  on 
any  bishop  residing  without  the  limits  of  the  state. 
He  never  appointed  any  superiors  but  such  as  were 
Tuscans  and  natives  of  the  kingdom  ;  he  suppressed 
the  class  of  hermits ;  and  he  was  anxious  to  prevent 
the  payment  of  taxes  to  any  one  not  residing  within 
the  kingdom.  He  prohibited  females  from  assuming 
the  religious  habit  before  the  age  of  twenty-five,  and 


FEMALE    CONVENTS,  121 

from  making  formal  profession  before  they  were  thirty. 
He  reduced  all  the  female  convents  where  the  com- 
munal life  was  not,  or  could  not  be  strictly  observed  ; 
and  converted  them  into  conservatories  entirely  depen- 
dent on  the  Government,  except  in  spiritual  matters, 
in  which  no  vows  were  required,  and  in  which  they 
were  obliged  to  instruct  young  females,  and  to  keep 
open  school.  He  diminished  the  pomp  of  the  church 
festivals  and  ceremonies,  as  well  as  their  numbers  ; 
abolished  all  societies  denominated  Pious,  all  congre- 
gations, confraternities,  and  third  orders,  &c.;  and 
substituted  for  them  a  single  confraternity,  called  the 
Confraternity  of  Charity,  which  was  ordered  to  assist 
in  the  discharge  of  religious  functions,  in  succoring 
and  relieving  the  sick,  in  accompanying  the  viaticum, 
c^c.  He  suppressed  the  Inquisition,  and  restored  to 
the  bishops  the  right  of  trying  spiritual  causes,  exhort- 
ing them  at  the  same  time  to  conduct  themselves  with 
clemency  and  mildness.  He  forbade,  in  the  strongest 
terms,  the  publication  of  any  address,  censure,  or  ex- 
communication, which  had-  not  been  sanctioned  by  the 
royal  Exeqitatiir ;  he  totally  prohibited  and  suppressed 
the  bulls  In  cmna  and  Ambit Iosce  ;  abolished  the  privi- 
lege enjoyed  by  the  priests  of  trying  laymen  in  their 
courts ;  subjected  every  one  in  holy  orders  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  civil  tribunals,  when  the  oifence 
charged  was  of  a  criminal  character ;  and  left  to  the 
ecclesiastical  courts,  merely  the  cognizance  of  matters 
of  a  purely  spiritual  nature. 

In  a  preliminary  discourse,  the  author  informs  us, 
that  the  Tuscan  bishops,  in  obedience  to  the  orders  of 
the  Grand  Duke,  prepared  to  hold  their  diocesan 
synods,  when  they  received  from  Leopold  fifty-seven 
theological  points,  which  he  desired  them  to  consider, 
and  to  send  him  their  answers. 

The  same  was  signified  in  a  second  circular,  dated 
January,  1786,  which  contained  a  declaration  of  the 
intention  of  Leopold  to  purge  religion  of  the  abuses  and 
superstitions  by  which  it  was  disfigured,  and  to  restore 
it  to  its  primitive  purity  and  perfection.     He  at  the 

11 


122  SECRETS    OF 

same  time  implored  them  to  express  their  sentiments 
fearlessly  and  boldly  on  that  head.  "  The  intelligence 
and  information  of  the  Grand  Duke  were  every  where 
admired,  and  his  fifty-seven  points  were  reprinted  in 
France." 

Ricci  availed  himself  of  this  circumstance  to  hold  a 
diocesan  synod  of  Pistoia. 

The  answers  of  the  bishops  to  the  fifty-seven  points 
being  far  from  uniform,  the  Grand  Duke  adopted  the 
resolution  of  calling,  previously  to  the  convocation  of 
the  national  council  of  which  he  had  sketched  the 
plan,  an  assembly  of  bishops,  in  which  the  matters  in- 
tended to  be  agitated,  should  be  prepared  and  discussed 
in  such  a  way  as  to  leave  no  pretext  for  opposition  or 
discord.  In  March,  1787,  the  bishops  were  convoked  ; 
and  their  assembly  opened  in  the  following  April. 

The  whole  of  Tuscany  was  occupied  with  this 
event,  and  more  particularly  those  persons  who  had 
either  been  delighted  with  the  suppression  of  the  Je- 
suits, or  who  deplored  that  unexpected  catastrophe. 
The  former  opposed,  with  the  Prince  and  some  Tus- 
can prelates,  the  pretensions  of  the  Court  of  Rome  and 
the  superstitious  notions  of  the  vulgar,  particularly  the 
Worship  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  Cordicoles^  which  was 
the  rallying  sign  of  the  secret  Society  of  the  Jesuits, 
iJte  impenetrctble  Qiiystery  of  vcliose  jiroceedings  con- 
cealed the  contlmud  additions  ichich  it  made  to  its 
inemhers.  The  others,  on  the  contrary,  employed 
every  means  in  tlieir  pov/er  to  support  that  society,  and 
were  aided  in  their  pernicious  designs  by  the  populace, 
the  monks,  and  the  Court  of  Rome. 

Three  archbishops  and  fourteen  bishops  attended 
the  first  session,  and  were,  each  of  them,  accompanied 
by  two  or  three  legal  advisers.  A  violent  dispute  took 
place  in  regard  to  the  manner  of  expressing  the  opin- 
ion and  will  of  the  assembly,  or  rather  on  the  canonical 
mode  of  procedure  in  councils  of  a  similar  kind  ;  the 
resolutions  of  the  assembly,  on  that  point,  naturally 
serving  as  a  model  for  the  guidance  of  the  approaching 
national  council.     The  opposition  party,  that  is  five- 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  123 

sixths  of  the  assembly,  loudly  called  for  the  plurality  of 
votes,  which  were  in  their  favor,  as  the  best  mode  of 
expressing  it ;  the  other  party  insisted  on  the  unan- 
imity which  the  Grand  Duke  had  demanded  in  his 
circular.  The  question  was  finally  determined  in 
favor  of  a  plurality  of  votes,  and  the  Bishops  of  Pistoia, 
of  Colle,  and  of  Chiusi,  were  obliged  to  content  them- 
selves with  an  insertion  of  their  protest  against  this 
irregularity. 

The  second  session  opened  by  a  recommendation  of 
secrecy  in  regard  to  the  proceedings  of  the  assembly, — 
a  secrecy  which  had  been  violated  in  so  scandalous  a 
manner,  in  regard  to  what  had  taken  place  at  the  first 
meeting  of  the  bishops,  that  the  speeches  of  each  of  the 
members  had  been  very  currently  reported  in  almost 
every  house  at  Florence. 

They  next  proceeded  to  an  examination  of  the  three 
first  points  proposed  by  the  Grand  Duke.  All  the 
members  agreed  in  the  opinion  expressed  by  the 
Prince,  except  in  regard  to  the  deliberative  voice 
which  he  conferred  on  those  who  were  only  priests ; 
and  which  the  assembly,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Bishops  of  Pistoia,  Colle,  and  Chiusi,  and  the  canons 
and  theologians  Vecchi,  Tanzini,  Palmieri,  Lon- 
ginelli,  (fee,  would  only  recognise  as  consultative.  In 
the  very  animated  discussion  which  took  place  on  the 
subject,  the  Bishop  of  Pescia  behaved  with  the  greatest 
violence,  and  allowed  himself  to  be  so  transported  with 
passion,  that  he  accused  Palmieri  of  heresy,  because  he 
had  proposed  an  examination  of  the  right  of  the  priests 
to  sit  as  synodal  judges.  Lampredi,  the  adviser  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Pisa,  gave  the  appellation  of  conventi- 
cles to  those  councils  which  had  permitted  such  an 
irregularity;  notwithstanding  his  opponents  distinctly 
proved  that  such  had  been  the  practice  in  the  councils 
which  were  held  in  the  times  of  the  primitive  Church. 

In  the  third  session,  the  subject  of  the  plurality  or 
unanimity  of  votes,  as  necessary  for  guiding  the  deci- 
sions of  the  approaching  council,  was  renewed.  The 
fifteen  bishops  of  the   opposition   party  declared   in 


124  SECRETS    OF 

favor  of  a  plurality,  in  all  cases  whatsoever  ;  the  re- 
maining three,  only  in  cases  relating  to  the  discipline 
of  the  Church,  strict  unanimity  being  always  required 
in  matters  of  faith. 

These  three  prelates  gave  in  their  vote,  concerning 
the  deliberative  right  of  the  priests  in  synodal  assem- 
blies, for  insertion  among  the  acts. 

The  assembly  next  proceeded  to  an  examination  of 
the  fourth  point,  on  which  no  discussion  took  place ; 
the  necessity  of  correcting  the  missal  and  breviary 
having  been  agreed  to  by  a  resolution.  The  three 
metropolitans  were  ordered  to  execute  this  duty  with 
as  little  delay  as  possible. 

The  proposal  for  using  the  language  of  the  country 
in  the  administration  of  the  sacraments  was  not  so 
well  received ;  and  the  opposition,  in  endeavoring  to 
combat  its  propriety,  gave  proofs  of  their  ignorance, 
which  were  very  carefully  exposed.  However,  after 
showing  the  opponents  of  the  measure  that  the  Latin 
language  was  universally  understood  and  spoken,  at 
the  period  of  composing  the  liturgy,  all  of  the^n  agreed 
that  it  ivoidd  be  j)roper  to  employ  a  language  lohich 
%o  as  familiar  to  the  people. 

In  regard  to  the  fifth  point,  the  fathers  were  unani- 
mously of  opinion,  that  the  bishops  possessed  the  pri- 
vilege of  granting  all  lawful  dispensations.  The  op- 
position party  maintained  that  the  privilege  of  granting 
them,  enjoyed  by  the  court  of  Rome,  ought  to  be  re- 
spected ;  but  became  divided  as  to  whether  it  would 
be  sufficient  to  demand  from  the  Pope  power  to  resume 
their  ancient  rights,  or  whether  it  would  be  most  pro- 
per to  receive  at  his  hands  the  power  necessary  for 
granting  dispensations.  The  three  bishops  of  the 
adverse  party  refused  to  agree  to  this  last  proposition, 
because  it  would  have  the  effect  of  making  the  episco- 
copal  body  be  looked  upon  as  merely  the  delegates,  in 
that  respect,  of  the  Court  of  Rome,  which  ever  after- 
wards, whenever  it  might  think  proper  to  repent  of  the 
concession,  would  resume  the  privilege  under  pretence 
of  its  being  merely  a  temporary  grant.     These  three 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  125 

prelates  having  finally  agreed,  for  the  purpose  of  attest- 
ing it  by  a  specific  act,  to  request  permission  to  resume 
the  exercise  of  their  ancient  rights,  of  which  they  only 
considered  themselves  the  depositaries,  and  which  they 
consequently  could  not  give  up,  the  Bishops  of  Sam- 
miniato  and  of  Soana  joined  them.  The  others  con- 
tinued their  opposition,  principally  at  the  instigation 
of  the  Archbishop  of  Pisa. 

By  order  of  the  Grand-duke,  the  affair  of  the  Bishop 
of  Chiusi  and  Pienza  was  taken  into  consideration.  A 
pastoral  letter  in  regard  to  the  hidden  truths  of  sound 
doctrine,  which  he  had  addressed,  in  April,  1786,  to 
the  clergy  and  the  orthodox  part  of  his  diocese,  had 
been  approved  by  several  theologians  of  the  highest 
merit  and  reputation,  and  was  afterwards  printed  and 
published.  Rome  condemned  it  in  the  course  of  that 
year  by  a  brief,  which  it  transmitted  to  the  prelate, 
accusing  him  of  evil  intentions,  and  enjoining  him  to 
retract.  The  prelate,  in  his  reply,  cleared  himself 
from  the  accusation  as  to  the  purity  of  his  intentions, 
of  which,  he  said,  no  one  had  any  right  to  judge  ; 
demonstrated  the  absolute  impossibility  of  retracting 
the  whole  of  what  he  had  advanced  in  his  pastoral 
address,  inasmuch  as  it  contained  many  unquestion- 
able articles  of  belief;  and  requested  that  the  errors 
of  which  he  had  been  guilty  might  be  pointed  out  to 
him  as  soon  as  possible,  as  he  only  waited  to  be  made 
aware  of  them,  in  order  to  retract  them.  Next  year 
the  Pope  despatched  another  brief,  much  more  violent 
than  the  first,  and  full  of  the  grossest  abuse,  not  only 
of  the  Bishop  of  Chiusi,  but  of  the  whole  episcopal 
body  of  Tuscany,  of  the  Government,  and  of  the 
Prince  who  was  at  its  head,  who,  it  was  there  alleged, 
was  tinctured  with  heterodox  opinions.  The  prelate, 
after  such  a  gross  personal  insult,  in  despair  of  receiv- 
ing any  justice  at  the  hands  of  the  Court  of  Rome, 
communicated  the  whole  affair  to  the  Grand  Duke. 

There  is  also  an  excellent  memorial  by  Ricci,  which 
was  read  in  the  assembly,  concerning  the  inalienable 
rights  of  the  clergy  to  full  and  absolute  jurisdiction 


126  SECRETS    OF 

over  their  diocesses — rights  of  which  the  councils  nei- 
ther wished  nor  could  deprive  them,  and  which  they 
have  only  explained  by  the  canons  ;  rights  which  all 
pastors  are  obliged  to  claim  in  full,  and  which  they 
must  exercise  for  the  good  of  those  committed  to  their 
charge.  This  is  the  passage  which  relates  to  the  re- 
servations of  the  Court  of  Rome. 

"  During  the  early  ages  of  the  Church,  no  instance 
occurs  of  any  general  and  perpetual  reservation  by 
the  councils  in  I'avor  of  the  Pope,  nor  of  any  limitation 
of  the  power  of  the  bishops  prescribed  by  the  Popes 
themselves.  What  now  remains  of  the  applications 
which  were  made  to  Rome  at  that  time,  are  in  fact  any 
thing  but  reservations  or  limitations.  The  practice 
then  was,  to  communicate  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome  the 
most  difficult  and  important  cases  which  occurred ;  to 
inform  her  of  the  fortunate  or  unfortunate  state  of  the 
churches  which  were  spread  abroad  in  different  parts 
of  the  world,  and  to  request  her  to  interest  herself  in 
regard  to  them.  The  Church  of  Rome  communicated 
in  the  same  manner  her  affairs  to  the  other  chu relies, 
particularly  to  those  which  were  the  most  celebrated 
and  most  respectable.  As  they  only  formed  altogether 
one  body  and  family  under  the  authority  of  one  su- 
preme and  invisible  head,  Jesus  Christ,  every  thing 
which  occurred,  whether  fortunate  or  unfortunate,  was 
considered  as  aflecting  the  whole.  The  communica- 
tions to  the  Church  at  Rome  were  naturally  of  more 
frequent  occurrence  than  to  any  other,  from  its  being 
the  most  important  and  respectable.  That  circum- 
stance, however,  does  not  by  any  means  prove  a  right 
of  reservation  on  her  part,  which  is  contradicted  by 
what- actually  took  place  on  such  occasions;  the  most 
authentic  of  the  ancient  decretals  being  only  simple 
advices  or  exhortations. 

"  Rome  herself  did  not  even  pretend  to  the  posses- 
sion of  any  legislative  authority.  The  Popes,  when 
they  were  consulted  on  any  point,  either  solved  the 
doubts  which  were  proposed,  or  jDrescribed  the  obser- 
vation of  rules,  not  on  the  authority  of  any  laws  en- 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  127 

acted  by  themselves,  or  any  right  of  reservation,  but 
on  that  of  tradition  and  the  canons,  to  which  they 
acknowledged  themselves  bound  to  yield  obedience. 
Whenever  they  attempted  a  departure  from  these  prin- 
ciples, or  sought  to  convert  them  to  any  bad  purpose, 
the  rest  of  the  churches  protested  against  the  irregu- 
larity of  the  proceeding,  and  boldly  applied  to  it  the 
proper  remedy. 

'•  Tliere  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  attempt  to  legislate 
for,  and  to  command  the  rest  of  the  churches,  took  its 
origin  after  the  period  of  the  false  decretals^  and  that 
it  was  not  made  either  immediately  or  at  once ;  for,  in 
general,  even  the  decrees  of  Innocent  III.,  and  Alex- 
ander III.  retained,  for  a  long  time  after  that  period, 
the  mere  character  of  exhortations  and  advices.  The 
frequency,  however,  of  these  consultations,  the  univer- 
sal ignorance  which  prevailed  every  where  except  at 
Rome,  and  the  political  circumstances  of  the  times, 
made  the  advice  of  the  Popes  to  be  carried  into  effect 
without  the  slightest  hesitation  or  modification.  Hence, 
in  the  course  of  time,  they  were  considered  as  of  equal 
authority  with  the  laws  ;  while  the  Popes  themselves, 
not  finding  any  resistance  to  their  injunctions,  and 
pretending  to  believe  that  they  were  invested  with 
authority  to  pronounce  them,  went  so  far  as  to  arrogate 
that  every  thing  relating  to  the  church  was  within  the 
cognizance  of  their  jurisdiction. 

"  Nothing  is  more  common  than  to  see  absolute  and 
unlimited  power  degenerating  into  excess  and  tyranny; 
and  such  was  the  case  with  the  authority  of  the  Popes. 
The  extravagances  of  the  despotism  of  the  Court  of 
RomC;  gave  rise  to  murmurs  and  dissatisfaction.  The 
power  which  they  enjoyed  was  never  a  source  of 
peace  and  tranquillity.  The  concordats  of  Germany 
and  France,  the  pragmatic  sanctions,  the  liberties  of 
the  Gallican  Church,  as  they  were  called,  are  all  of 
them  to  be  considered  as  so  many  proofs  of  the  opposi- 
tion which  was  made  to  the  attempts  of  the  Court  of 
Rome,  and  as  so  many  bulwarks  raised  by  the  bishops 
and  the  people,  with  the  view  of  preserving  to  them- 


129  SECRETS    OF 

selves  some  portion  of  their  primitive  and  indestruc- 
tible rights. 

"  The  councils  of  Constance  and  Basle  wished  to 
strike  at  the  very  root  of  the  evil ;  that  of  Trent  at- 
tempted to  restore  to  the  bishops  as  much  of  their 
authority  as  the  preponderance  of  the  Court  of  Rome 
would  permit.  AH  these  attempts  have  been  unsuc- 
cessful ;  and  Rome,  by  the  creation  of  its  various  Con- 
gregations, has  devised  so  many  methods  of  multiplying 
its  reservations,  that  they  have  become  so  numerous  as 
scarcely  to  leave  at  the  disposal  of  the  bishops  a  shadow 
of  the  authority  which  originally  formed  a  part  of  the 
episcopal  character." 

The  seventh  article  was  next  taken  into  considera- 
tion. The  opposition  spent  but  little  time  in  combat- 
ing the  uniformity  of  instruction  and  doctrine  de- 
manded by  Leopold,  that  it  might  let  loose  all  its  fury 
and  violence  against  Augustin,  whom  it  used  every 
effort  to  blacken,  as  being  the  only  source  of  that  uni- 
form doctrine.  Lampredi  went  so  far  as  to  declare  the 
author  a  hot-headed  declahner !  The  opposition 
bishops,  not  knowing  either  how  to  avert  the  blow 
with  which  they  were  threatened,  or  how  they  could 
deny  the  authority  of  a  father  of  the  Church  so  cele- 
brated as  Augustin,  offered  to  admit  it,  on  condition 
that  his  works  should  always  be  accompanied  by  those 
of  his  faithful  interpreter,  Thomas.  The  Dominicans 
had  succeeded  in  making  that  scholastic  writer  speak 
the  language  of  the  Jesuits,  and  they  were  desirous  of 
making  common  cause  with  them. 

It  was  objected,  however,  that  the  consequence  of 
such  a  proceeding,  would  be  a  return  to  all  the  ab- 
surdities of  the  ancient  school ;  that  the  writings  of 
Augustin  had  been  perfectly  well  understood  until  the 
time  of  ThomaSj  who  had  rendered  them  obscure  by 
his  attempts  to  explain  them;  that  Baius,  Jansenius, 
and  Q,uesnel,  to  whom  it  was  pretended  that  he  had 
given  birth,  made  their  appearance  after  his  inter- 
preter ;  and  finally  that  the  proposition  of  Mamachi, 
Augiistinus  eget  Thoma  interpreter  Augustin  requires 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  '  129 

the  explanations  of  Thomas,  had  been  tacitly  con- 
demned by  the  See  of  Rome.  It  was  only  in  conse- 
quence of  this  partial  concession  on  the  part  of  the 
Court  of  Rome,  that  Vasquez,  general  of  the  Angus- 
tins  had  recalled  the  prohibition  which  he  had 
issued  four  years  before,  to  quote  or  name  Thomas  in 
any  disputes  which  might  arise  in  future  :  "  the  time," 
said  he,  "  is  gone  by,  in  which  there  is  any  ground  for 
dreading  the  bugbear  accusation  of  being  tinctured 
with  that  chimerical  heresy,  denominated  Jansenism." 

The  necessity,  however,  of  accompanying  Augustin 
with  the  explanations  of  Thomas,  was  decreed  by  a 
majority  of  the  assembly  ;  and  a  commission  named  to 
regulate  the  method  of  instruction,  and  to  point  out  the 
authors  who  had  been  most  successful  in  expounding 
the  doctrines  of  that  writer.  It  is  not  a  little  remark- 
able that  a  work  was  proposed,  in  which  the  adver- 
saries of  the  opposition  proved  that  the  writer  had  in- 
culcated the  seditious  maxims  of  Pope  Gregory  VII., 
by  applying  to  sovereign  princes  the  epithets  of  "  ser- 
vants of  the  Pope  ;"  by  decrying  the  authority  of  gen- 
eral councils,  and  converting  the  Roman  Pontiff  into 
an  absolute  despot.  The  Archbishop  of  Florence  de- 
nominated these  grave  errors  ''  trifling  blemishes,"  an 
expression  on  which  Ricci  commented  with  much 
warmth  and  severity." 

The  measures  recommended  by  Leopold  in  his 
eighth  article  for  preventing  any  persons  from  receiv- 
ing ordination,  except  those  who  had  been  properly 
instructed,  whose  morals  were  unexceptionable,  and 
whose  vocation  could  not  be  called  in  question,  as  well 
as  for  preventing  a  greater  number  from  being  ordain- 
ed than  was  absolutely  required  for  the  service  of  the 
Church,  gave  the  opposition  some  reason  to  fear  that 
he  wished  to  diminish  the  number  of  the  clergy.  They 
accordingly  employed  their  utmost  efforts  to  prove  that 
Tuscany  instead  of  having  too  many  priests,  or  any 
who  were  useless,  rather  stood  in  need  of  some  addi- 
tion to  its  present  number;  and  urged  that  opinion  with 
such  determined  obstinacy,  that  if  became  necessary  to 


130  SECRETS    OF 

allow  each  bishop  to  regulate  his  diocess  in  that  matter 
as  he  might  deem  most  proper.  The  consequence  was, 
that  while  all  agreed  to  the  truth  of  the  principle  that 
no  useless  priests  should  be  ordained,  each  reserved  to 
himself  the  right  of  ordaining  as  many  as  he  chose. 
The  clergy  denominated  Eugenian,  belonging  to  the 
cathedral  of  Florence,  who  were  made  priests  for  no 
other  reason  than  the  services  which  they  had  rendered 
to  that  church,  were  exempted  from  all  reform.  From 
thirty-three  clerks  who  composed  it  at  its  commence- 
ment, that  body  had  increased  to  one  hundred  and  fifty. 
The  grand  argument  employed  throughout  the  whole 
of  this  discussion  was,  that  bishops  ought  not  to  tie  up 
their  own  hands. 

The  same  argument  was  made  use  of  to  combat  the 
ninth  point,  concerning  the  necessity  of  fixing  eighteen 
as  the  proper  age  for  receiving  the  tonsure,  and  enter- 
ing into  the  clerical  profession  ;  as  well  as  of  ridding 
the  churches  and  the  service,  of  the  children  employed 
in  the  choir,  who  went  through  their  duty  with  as  little 
decency  as  fervor.  The  fear  of  seeing  the  numbers  of 
the  clergy  diminished  by  the  lopping  off  of  any  one  of 
the  shoots  fromwhich  it  was  increased,  was  so  great,  that 
it  became  necessary  to  leave  this  article  also  to  the  dis- 
cretion of  the  bishops. 

Testimony  was  given  by  Longinelli,  who  was  di- 
rector, during  eleven  years,  in  regard  to  the  Eugenian 
clergy  of  Florence,  the  most  numerous  collegiate  body 
perhaps  in  the  whole  of  Europe.  Speaking  of  their 
disorderly  habits,  he  says,  "  At  the  time  that  I  resided 
in  that  city,  I  used  my  best  endeavors  to  eradicate,  at 
least,  the  most  apparent  causes  and  occasions  of  the 
irregularities  which  were  committed  ;  such,  for  exam- 
ple, as  the  nocturnal  service;  but  T  dare  not  flatter  my- 
self that  I  succeeded  in  extirpating  the  whole.  The 
admixture  of  so  many  little  boys  of  very  tender  years, 
opens  so  many  sources  of  disorder,  that  the  utmost 
vigilance  of  the  most  attentive  master  is  incapable  of 
detecting  them.  Tlie  children  who  enter  into  the  society 
of  these  young  clerks,  find  these  disorders  in  full  ope- 


FEMALE   CONVENTS.  131 

ration,  and  in  a  short  time  they  also  become  infected 
with  the  contagion."  Longinelh  reckons  four  hundred 
persons  in  orders,  at  Florence  alone. 

The  tenth,  the  eleventh,  and  the  twelfth  articles,  fur- 
nished but  little  food  for  dispute.  The  opponents  of 
the  measures  promised  to  conform  themselves  to  them 
as  far  as  possible  ;  and  the  other  bishops  declared  that 
they  would  regulate  their  conduct  by  the  expressions 
of  Leopold,  in  the  same  way  as  with  the  two  preceding 
articles. 

The  thirteenth  article  presents  nothing  remarkable, 
except  the  unanimous  adoption,  after  some  little  debate, 
of  the  principle  put  forth  by  the  Grand  Duke,  "that 
the  right  of  patronage  in  the  case  of  churches,  cannot 
justify  any  one  in  nominating  a  pastor  who  is  disagree- 
able to  the  congregation  ;  and  that  due  deference  must 
be  paid  in  every  case,  to  the  right  which  the  people 
have  to  good  spiritual  directors  and  solid  instruction." 

The  fourteenth  article  gave  rise  to  a  very  interesting 
and  very  animated  discussion  on  the  practice  of  asking 
charity  for  saying  masses  ;  a  means  employed  by  an 
avaricious  j)riesthood  for  retaining  the  people  in  igno- 
rance^ and  inducing  them  to  believe  that  they  thereby 
liurchase  the  holy  sacrifice  and,  its  spiritual  effects. 
The  practice  had  been  permitted  when  the  clergy  were 
poor,  and  was  consequently  obliged  to  procure  their 
support  from  the  charity  of  the  people ;  but  since  they 
have  possessed  in  abundance  what  is  necessary  for 
their  maintenance,  it  only  served  to  increase  the  num- 
bers of  the  useless  clergy,  who  looked  upon  their  pro- 
fession merely  as  a  trade  and  means  of  subsistence. 
The  opposition,  from  an  opinion  that  the  Church  had 
not  enough  of  property  to  support  all  its  ministers, 
without  reflecting  whether  there  was  not  a  superfluous 
number,  caused  a  resolution  to  be  adopted,  that  the 
bishops  should  each  of  them  regulate  that  matter  ac- 
cording to  the  necessities  of  their  diocesses. 

The  fifteenth  article  was  treated  in  the  same  manner. 
The  opposition  party  agreed  as  to  the  incompatibility 
of  more  than  one  benefice  requiring  personal  residence, 


132  SECRETS    OF 

being  conferred  on  one  clergyman  ;  but  they  would 
not  consent  to  the  cession  of  several  simple  benefices, 
until  their  joint  incomes  should  amount  to  sixty  crowns, 
as  the  C4rand  Duke  proposed,  for  the  support  of  a  chap- 
lain or  curate.  They  saw  also  in  this  proposal  the 
much  dreaded  diminution  of  the  numbers  of  tlie  clergy, 
and  even  openly  avowed  their  fears,  saying,  that  out 
of  five  small  benefices  given  to  five  ecclesiastics,  there 
was  always  a  certainty  of  finding  one  really  good 
priest — a  circumstance  which  could  not  so  certainly 
have  been  relied  on,  if  they  had  all  been  united  in  one. 
This  reasoning  was  easily  refuted  by  their  adversaries, 
who  insisted  on  obedience  being  yielded  to  the  com- 
mands of  the  Prince,  by  excluding  from  ecclesiastical 
orders  all  the  lazy,  and  consequently  useless  priests, 
and  by  ordaining  those  only  who  deserved  to  be  ap- 
pointed. 

In  regard  to  the  seventeenth  article,  the  opposition 
resisted  the  declaration,  that  the  person  promoted  to 
the  enjoyment  of  a  benefice  in  a  diocess  should  in  all 
cases  have  been  ordained  within  it;  but  it  allowed, 
nevertheless,  that  it  would  be  much  better  that  such 
were  the  case. 

The  twentieth  and  twenty-first  articles  furnished 
matter  for  a  discussion,  in  regard  to  those  who  were 
merely  priests,  not  attached  to  any  particular  Church, 
and  were  only  obliged  to  say  mass,  and  to  recite  the 
breviary.  The  opposition  party  agreed  to  the  propriety 
of  doing  away  with  that  abuse. 

Oratories  and  private  chapels  were  attacked  with 
much  warmth  in  the  course  of  the  discussion,  which 
took  place  on  the  twenty-second  and  twenty-third  arti- 
cles. The  bishops  of  the  opposition  party  would  not 
hear  of  their  being  abolished :  they  consented,  how- 
ever, to  join  in  prohibiting  the  celebration  of  divine 
service  in  them  on  Sundays  and  festival  days,  except 
by  permission  of  the  ordinary.  The  three  JDishops, 
and  also  the  Bishop  of  Soana,  demanded  their  entire 
suppression  ;  particularly  on  the  ground  of  the  in- 
justice  of  always  granting   the   privilege  to  wealth 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  133 

and  rank,  which  possess  no  merit  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Almighty. 

The  twenty-fifth,  and  following  articles,  in  regard  to 
the  decency  of  conduct  required  from  priests,  which 
necessarily  prohibits  them  from  hunting,  frequenting 
the  theatres,  (fee. ;  the  dignity  of  the  service  of  the 
Church,  without  either  expense  or  shows ;  the  cere- 
monies, fetes,  <fec. ;  were  entrusted,  as  regards  their 
execution,  to  the  prudence  of  the  bishops,  according  to 
the  particular  circumstances  of  their  diocesses. 

The  affair  of  the  Bishop  of  Chiusi  and  Pienza  was 
resumed.  Notwithstanding  the  explicit  orders  of  the 
Grand  Duke,  and  the  formal  request  of  the  prelate  him- 
self, the  opposition  party,  consisting  of  his  colleagues, 
peremptorily  refused  to  examine  the  pastoral  address 
in  question,  as  well  as  the  briefs  of  the  Pope,  through 
dread  of  offending  the  latter  by  re-judging  not  only 
what  he  had  condemned,  but  also  the  sentence  of  con- 
demnation itself.  At  last,  they  came  to  a  resolution, 
in  which  the  Bishops  of  Pistoia  and  CoUe,  with  those 
of  Sepolchro  and  Arezzo  joined,  that  each  should  give 
in  his  opinion  in  writing,  and  transmit  it  immediately 
to  the  Grand  Duke,  with  a  proviso,  that  their  opinions 
should  be  communicated  to  the  Bishop  of  Chiusi — an 
injunction  which  Leopold  faithfully  observed. 

The  discussion  on  the  twenty- eighth  article  brought 
under  the  attention  of  the  bishops  the  small  curtains, 
veils,  or  mantles,  which  it  had  been  the  practice  to 
place  before  particular  images.  All  the  arguments  of 
the  bishops,  theologians,  and  canonists,  who  spoke  in 
favor  of  the  proposal  of  the  Grand  Duke,  however 
striking  and  well-founded,  could  only  prevail  on  the 
opposition  party  to  agree  on  the  unveiling  of  the 
images  which  were  held  in  the  smallest  estimation. 
According  to  their  opinion,  the  ancient  images  might 
remain  veiled,  without  producing  the  least  incon- 
venience ;  provided  always  that  the  bishops  took  care 
to  instruct  their  flocks  not  to  attach  any  material  or 
superstitious  idea  to  that  mark  of  respect. 

The  twenty-ninth  article  brought  under  their  review 
12 


134  SECRETS    OF 

the  anniversary  masses  for  the  repose  of  the  dead, 
which  had  increased  beyond  all  bounds ;  the  exorbi- 
tant number  of  masses  generally;  the  gross  indecency 
of  saying  several  7nasses  at  the  sa^ne  time  in  the  same 
church;  the  hurry  with  which  masses  are  said  by 
those  who  celebrate  them,  who  are  driven  to  this  inde- 
cent conduct,  in  order  to  make  room  for  others ;  the 
quarrels  which  take  i^lace  on  that  subject  in  the  sa- 
cristies ;  the  high  or  low  rate  charged  for  saying 
masses,  according  to  the  greater  or  lesser  number  of 
the  candidates ;  the  application  of  some  masses  to  a 
particular  person,  either  living  or  dead,  according  to 
the  intention  of  the  celebrator,  or  his  constituent ;  the 
privileges  attached  to  particular  altars,  days,  and 
priests,  (fee.  The  Archbishop  of  Florence  was  the 
most  obstinate  in  denying  the  existence  of  such  abuses, 
and  in  wishing  to  preserve  ail  these  matters  as  they 
were.  All  the  other  prelates  allowed  that  the  abuses 
existed ;  but  would  not  consent  to  bind  themselves  to 
do  any  thing  more  than  merely  to  instruct  their  flocks 
to  do  away  with  the  existing  errors,  as  far  as  had  been 
required  by  the  Council  of  Trent. 

In  the  course  of  this  discussion,  there  occur  several 
very  pointed  remarks  on  the  personal  and  local  privi- 
leges of  the  clergy ;  on  the  Gregorian  altars,  to  which, 
it  was  pretended,  the  power  of  rescuing  a  soul  from 
purgatory  at  will,  was  attached,  <fec. 

''An  error  so  very  gross  as  that  of  the  privileged 
altars,  is  connected  with  a  great  number  of  others  in 
regard  to  indulgences.  The  condescension  shown  by 
the  Church  in  granting  absolutions,  is  in  reality  only 
a  diminution  of  a  part  of  the  punishments  pointed  out 
by  the  canons  of  the  Church :  a  diminution  which, 
during  the  first  ages,  was  only  granted  on  account  of 
extraordinary  fervor  in  the  penitent,  or  from  a  consi- 
deration of  the  impossibility  of  his  undergoing  the 
whole  of  the  punishment  which  had  been  imposed  on 
him.  That  favor  now  passes  for  a  complete  remission 
of  sins ;  while  the  absurd  and  false  ojnnion  every- 
where prevails^  that  whoever  has  departed  this  life  in 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  135 

possession  of  a  i^enai-y  indulgence^  has  no  sin  to  ex- 
jriate,  and  is  received  immediately  into  the  regions  of 
eternal  glory!  Under  the  impression  of  these  and 
other  equally  ridiciilons  and  exorbitant  ideas  of  the 
power  of  the  Pope,  both  in  this  and  the  other  world, 
people  have  not  hesitated  to  declare  that  the  souls  of 
the  dead  were  equally  capable  of  receiving  the  benefit 
of  indulgences."^^ 

The  fundamental  principles  of  religion  are  not 
known  or  recognised,  and  they  either  will  not  or 
dare  not  investigate  them.  They  do  not  even  per- 
ceive, that  the  excessive  number  of  privileges  of  which 
they  boast,  are  a  sufficient  proof  of  their  being  ill 
founded. 

''If  it  were  true,  as  is  stated  by  some  persons,  that 
a  soul  was  delivered  from  purgatory  each  time  that  a 
privileged  mass,  whether  local  or  personal,  was  said, 
purgatory  ought  not  only  to  be  alicays  einpty^  but  to 
have  a  very  large  sum  at  its  debit ^  in  behalf  of  the 
souls  who  have  not  yet  made  their  appearance  there. 
In  every  parish  church,  by  an  indulgence  of  Clement 
XIII.,  the  grand  altar  is  privileged.  There  is  always 
one  of  the  same  kind  in  every  church  of  the  regular 
monks,  possessed  of  seven  altars ;  and  in  every  other 
the  privilege  exists,  at  least  for  some  particular  day  in 
the  week.  The  number  of  priests  possessing  the  pri- 
vilege personally  is  very  great.  On  a  moderate  calcu- 
lation, the  privileged  masses  which  are  said  every  day 
in  the  city  and  diocess  of  Florence  alone,  amount  to 
several  hundreds,  and  consequently  exceed,  to  a  consi- 
derable degree,  the  number  of  persons  who  die  in  the 
course  of  the  day.  The  same  may  be  said  to  be  the 
case  proportionally  in  all  Catholic  countries." 

The  thirty-seventh  article  gave  rise  to  the  display  of 
much  sound  argument  and  erudition,  in  support  of, 
and  of  much  obstinacy,  bad  faith,  and  ignorance,  in 
opposition  to  the  desire  which  the  Grand  Duke  had 
expressed  of  prohibiting  more  than  one  mass  from 
being  said  at  the  same  time,  and  of  permitting  only 
one  altar  in  the  same  church.     The  opposition  party 


136  SECRETS    OF 

would  only  promise  to  abolish  those  altars  which  were 
useless,  or  indecorously  situated. 

On  the  fortieth  article,  the  dispute  in  regard  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  curates  was  renewed.  The  oppo- 
sition party  would  not  consent  to  their  possessing  any, 
and  maintained  that  they  were,  and  ought  to  be,  en- 
tirely dependent  on  the  bishops. 

The  theologians  and  canonists  delivered  their  opin- 
ions in  regard  to  the  affair  of  the  Bishop  of  Chiusi  and 
Pienza.  All  of  them  agreed  in  praise  of  his  pastoral 
address,  which  they  declared  to  be  fauhless,  and  in 
censuring  the  replies  of  the  Pope,  as  well  as  the  ca- 
lumnies, and  vague  and  undefined  accusations  which 
were  preferred  against  the  whole  of  the  episcopal  body, 
the  Tuscan  Government,  cfec. 

Ricci  took  up  the  defence  of  the  Bishop  of  Chiusi 
with  much  warmth,  insisted  on  the  bishops  coming  to 
a  determination  on  the  matter  as  soon  and  as  clearly 
as  possible,  and  on  demanding  from  the  See  of  Rome 
ample  reparation  for  the  injury ;  maintaining  that  if 
its  error  was  once  pointed  out,  the  Court  of  Rome 
could  not  fail  to  yield  to  their  remonstrances.  The 
boldness  of  Ricci  is  so  much  the  more  remarkable,  as 
he  had  just  received  intelligence  of  an  insurrection 
which  had  been  excited  at  Prato,  in  honor  of  the  Gir- 
dle of  the  Holy  Yirgin. 

The  fifty-fourth  article  gave  rise  to  a  discussion  in 
regard  to  the  books  prohibited  at  Rome,  among  which 
were  found,  some  of  those  which  the  Grand  Duke  pro- 
posed to  form  part  of  the  curate's  library.  The  oppo- 
sition party  rejected  the  whole,  after  having  declared, 
that  they  did  not  thereby  pretend  to  condemn  either  the 
authors  or  their  writings.  The  argument  by  which  it 
attempted  to  justify  their  conduct  in  that  respect  was, 
that  it  was  much  better  to  give  the  priests  those  works 
only  which  were  exempt  from  all  suspicion,  stain,  or 
censure.  The  three  prelates  who  were  of  a  contrary 
opinion,  accepted  the  article  proposed  by  Leopold  with- 
out the  smallest  hesitation  or  modification. 

Among  other  books  which  were  pointed  out,  were 


FEMALE    COX  VENTS.  137 

the  writinofs  of  Q^iiesnel,  Le  Tourneux.  (fee,  to  which 
Ricci  added  those  of  Nicole.  "  The  Provincial  Letters," 
Godeau,  Diiguet.  &c. 

The  fifty-sixth  article  was  more  favorably  received. 
The  bishops  agreed  generally  in  the  necessity  of  cur- 
tailing the  privileges  of  the  regular  orders,  so  as  to  re- 
duce them  to  the  situation  of  mere  coadjutors  of  the 
curates,  and  to  render  the  possession  of  their  properties 
dependent  on  their  making  themselves  useful  in  their 
parishes,  instead  of  injuring  the  service  of  the  churches, 
and  attracting  the  people  to  themselves  solely  for  their 
own  advantage,  as  had  hitherto  been  the  case. 

The  fiftieth  article  required  the  convents  to  be  inde- 
pendent of  their  provincials  and  generals.  That  inde- 
pendence appeared  to  the  greater  part  of  the  opposition 
to  have  been  sufficiently  secured  by  the  laws  which 
already  existed  in  full  operation  in  the  Grand  Duchy. 
The  bishops  of  Pistoia  and  Colle  declared  that  they 
preferred,  according  to  Leopold's  proposal,  that  each 
convent  should  form  a  separate  community,  subject 
only  to  tlie  control  of  the  bishop  of  the  diocess  in  which 
it  was  situated. 

The  Grand  Duke  added  four  new  questions  to  his 
fifty-seven  articles,  which  furnished  matter  for  some 
interesting  discussions.  One  of  those  related  to  the 
baptisteries,  which  the  opposition  party  would  not  con- 
sent to  grant  to  all  parishes,  principally  at  the  instiga- 
tion of  the  two  archbishops  of  Florence  and  Pisa  ;  an- 
other, to  the  abolition  of  the  mendicity  of  the  religious 
orders.  The  opponents  of  these  measures  did  not  deny 
the  inconveniences  resulting  from  the  license  which 
these  orders  had  to  beg ;  but  they  exaggerated  the  im- 
possibility, on  the  other  hand,  of  providing  in  a  proper 
manner  for  the  support  of  the  mendicant  orders. 

The  important  subject  of  marriage  presented  one  pe- 
culiar feature.  The  opposition  party  would  not  agree 
to  the  nullity,  in  a  civil  point  of  view,  of  mere  promises, 
whether  written  or  verbal,  as  the  bishops  of  Pisioia, 
Colle,  Chiusi,  and  Soana  would  have  wished  them. 
They  agreed,  however,  with  those  enlightened  prelates. 
12^ 


138  SECRETS    OF 

in  admitting  that  there  was  a  distinct  difference  be- 
tween the  contract  and  the  sacrament,  and  even  allow- 
ed that  the  sovereign  possessed  all  authority  in  regard 
to  the  former. 

The  commission  which  had  been  appointed  to  draw 
up  a  plan  of  ecclesiastical  study  which  would  render 
the  doctrine  of  the  Church  both  sound  and  uniform,  at 
length  delivered  the  fruits  of  their  labors  to  the  assem- 
bly. The  disputes  in  regard  to  Augustin  and  Thomas, 
and  to  systems  of  theology  containing  propositions  in- 
jurious to  the  rights  of  sovereign  princes,  were  in  con- 
sequence renewed. 

The  opposition  party  displayed  their  ill-will  on  the 
subject  of  useless  oaths,  which  they  would  not  consent 
to  abolish,  notwithstanding  the  powerful  reasons  urged 
in  behalf  of  such  a  measure. 

This  obstinacy  brought  on  a  discussion  in  regard  to 
the  oath  of  vassalage  to  the  Pope  taken  by  the  bishops, 
which  Tanzini  denominates  a  feudal  remnant  of  Hil- 
debrandine  i^folicy. 

The  opposition  party  had  neither  the  boldness  to 
support,  nor  to  forbid  the  taking  of  it  in  future  ;  but 
found  the  means  of  getting  out  of  the  dilemma,  without 
compromising  itself  with  the  Court  of  Rome,  by  saying 
that  they  had  nothing  to  suggest  to  the  Grand  Duke 
on  that  head.  The  bishops  of  Pistoia,  CoUe,  Chiusi, 
and  Soana  implored  the  Prince  to  take  the  matter  into 
serious  consideration,  and  stated  their  conviction  that 
a  simple  promise  of  canonical  obedience  was  all  that 
was  required. 

The  plan  of  a  uniform  course  of  study  for  the  whole 
of  Tuscany  was  considerably  amended  by  the  sugges- 
tions of  the  Bishops  of  Pistoia,  Colle,  and  Chiusi :  the 
opposition  party  would  not,  however,  consent  to  the 
abolition  of  the  scholastic  method  of  instruction,  which 
those  prelates  were  anxious  to  extirpate  as  an  invention 
of  the  dark  ages,  and  to  substitute  for  it  the  scriptures, 
tradition,  and  the  fathers.  Neither  would  they  depart 
from  the  necessity  of  employing  the  writings  of  Tho- 
mas for  the  interpretation  of  those  of  Augustin. 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  139 

Several  memorials  from  the  synod  of  Pistoia  to  the 
Grand  Duke  were  transmitted  by  the  latter  for  exami- 
nation to  the  assembly.  Notwithstanding  the  opinion 
of  the  Prince,  which  on  the  whole  was  favorable  to 
them,  the  assembly  received  them  very  coldly.  Among 
other  matters,  they  refused  a  request  in  one  of  them 
to  refer  all  the  fetes  to  the  Sunday  following  the  day  of 
their  occurrence,  to  abolish  the  necessity  of  abstaining 
from  labor  on  these  days,  and  on  the  evenings  preceding 
fasts,  with  that  of  attending  mass  not  only  on  these  days, 
but  also  on  the  festival  days  which  had  been  abolished, 
but  which  were  still  attended  with  that  obligation. 

Another  memorial  contained  the  project  of  a  general 
reform  of  the  religious  orders  of  every  description, 
which  Ricci  was  desirous  of  uniting  under  one  single 
institute,  namely,  that  of  Benedict.  In  that  case  there 
would  only  have  been  one  convent,  always  situated  in 
the  country,  for  each  town,  and  containing,  with  the 
exception  of  one  or  two  priests  required  for  the  admi- 
nistration of  the  sacraments,  only  lay  monks.  The 
opposition  party  would  not,  however,  agree  on  any 
terms  to  the  execution  of  that  plan. 

The  nineteenth  and  last  session  was  held  in  June, 
1787. 

The  Grand  Duke  gave  orders  that  the  acts  of  the 
assembly  should  remain  open  during  eight  days,  for 
the  purpose  of  affording  an  opportunity  of  inserting  re- 
plies to  the  articles  already  deposited.  He  gave  audi- 
ence to  the  assembly  in  a  body,  and  testified  to  them 
his  vexation  at  the  malignant  spirit  with  which  they 
had  misrepresented  his  intentions,  and  the  selfishness 
which  had  induced  them  to  reject  his  proposals  ;  at  the 
little  harmony  and  concord  which  existed  among 
the  bishops,  and  at  the  spirit  of  prejudice  and  party 
which  had  actuated  them,  <fec. 

The  Prince  afterwards  prohibited  in  his  states  the 
"  Journal  of  Rome,"  the  "  Projet  dc  Bourg-Fontaine^'' 
and  other  periodical  and  defamatory  publications, 
which,  after  being  composed  at  Rome,  were  dissemi- 
nated throughout  the  whole  of  Tuscany,  "  for  the  pur- 


140  SECRETS  OF 

pose  of  excitinp^  sedition,  and  increasing  the  supersti- 
tion which  gave  birth  to  it." 

The  writer  terminates  his  vokmie  with  some  very- 
appropriate  and  just  reflections  on  the  progress  of  know- 
ledge ;  a  progress  which  had  taken  place  much  against 
the  wish  of  the  assembly  itself,  which,  although  deter- 
mined to  delay  the  intellectual  revolution  which  was 
operating,  as  much  as  possible,  could  not  prevent  that 
body  from  coming  up  to  that  which  had  already  taken 
place.  Although  there  was  a  predominant  party  ini- 
mical to  reform,  many  resolutions  were  passed,  which, 
a  century  before,  would  have  been  considered  as  so 
many  heresies.  Without  paying  the  least  attention  to 
the  Court  of  Rome,  the  studies  of  the  regular  clergy 
were  distinctly  pointed  out  and  determined  ;  them- 
selves subjected  to  the  control  of  the  ordinaries,  and 
the  principle  of  yielding  obedience,  and  rendering 
themselves  useful  in  the  spiritual  duty  of  the  parishes, 
was  formally  recognised.  A  uniform  system  of  eccle- 
siastical instruction,  for  which  Augustin  was  chosen 
as  the  model,  was  established ;  the  reform  of  the  mis- 
sals and  breviaries  was  resolved  on  ;  all  taxes  for  ad- 
ministering spiritual  aid  were  abolished  ;  and  the  lux- 
ury, dissipation,  and  gross  irregularities  of  the  clergy, 
were  openly  condemned. 

II.  The  second  volume  of  the  Collection  of  the  Acts, 
is  entitled  "  Ecclesiastical  Points  compiled  and  trans- 
mitted by  his  Royal  Highness  to  all  the  Archbishops 
and  Bishops  of  Tuscany,  with  the  replies  of  those  pre- 
lates :"  Florence,  1787. 

The  fifty-seven  points  proposed  by  the  Prince  relate 
to  the  necessity  of  holding  diocesan  synods  ;  to  the 
right  of  the  curates  to  sit  and  vote  in  them ;  to  the  in- 
dispensable necessity  of  reforming  the  missals  and 
breviaries  ;  to  the  abolition  of  useless  oaths  ;  to  the 
reclaiming  of  the  authority  of  the  bishops  which  had 
been  usurped  by  the  Court  of  Rome,  especially  the 
power  of  granting  dispensations,  and  more  particularly 
dispensations  in  matters  relating  to  marriage ;  to  the  uni- 
formity of  doctrine  and  study  according  to  the  writings 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  141 

of  Augustin  :  to  the  prohibition  to  ordain  priests  to  si- 
necures, to  permit  their  receiving  the  tonsure  and  be- 
ing admitted  to  the  rank  of  a  clergyman  before  the  age 
of  eighteen,  and  to  crowd  the  churches  and  ahars  with 
the  children  belonging  to  the  choir,  as  had  formerly 
been  the  case ;  to  the  absolute  necessity  of  ordaining 
none  but  priests  worthy  of  being  intrusted  with  the 
ministry ;  to  the  abolition  of  begging  for  saying 
masses  ;  to  the  impropriety  of  one  individual  holding 
and  doing  the  duty  of  several  benefices  ;  to  the  neces- 
sity of  attaching  each  incumbent  to  a  particular  church 
in  the  district  of  his  benefice ;  to  the  suppression  of 
private  oratories  ;  to  prohibiting  the  priests  from  hunt- 
ing, frequenting  inns,  coffee-houses,  theatres,  gaming- 
houses, &c.,  trading,  employing  themselves  in  com- 
mercial speculations,  6cc. ;  to  a  reduction  of  the  ex- 
travagant luxury  of  the  temples,  and  of  the  theatrical 
pomp  of  festivals  and  religious  ceremonies ;  to  pro- 
hibiting the  celebration  of  more  than  one  mass  in  the 
same  church  ;  to  the  examination  of  all  relics,  denomi- 
nated sacred,  and  the  elimination  of  those  which  were 
false ;  to  the  unveiling  of  covered  images  ;  to  the  in- 
struction to  be  given  to  the  people  relative  to  the  com- 
munion of  saints,  and  to  sufii'age  inbehalf  of  the  dead; 
to  the  duties  of  curates  ;  to  exhorting  the  people  in  the 
language  of  the  country  on  the  Gospel  for  each  day, 
and  the  explanation  of  the  Latin  prayers  which  are 
repeated  ;  to  the  books  to  be  furnished  by  the  Govern- 
ment to  the  curates  ;  to  the  submission  of  the  regular 
monks  and  nuns  to  the  curates  and  bishops ;  and  to 
the  invalidity  in  Tuscany  of  orders,  permissions,  dis- 
pensations from  Rome,  unless  accompanied  by  the 
Ex  equator  from  Government. 

The  first  answer  is  from  the  Archbishop  of  Florence, 
Martini,  the  chief  of  the  opposition  party  in  the  national 
ecclesiastical  assembly.  That  prelate  principally  com- 
bats the  proposal  for  correcting  the  missals  and  bre- 
viaries, the  administration  of  the  sacraments  in  the 
common  language  of  the  country  ;  the  validity  of  dis- 
pensations granted  by  the  ordinaries,  all  innovations 


142  SECRETS    OP 

tending  to  diminish  the  solemnity  and  splendor  of  the 
external  part  of  religious  worship,  or  the  number  of 
priests,  clerks,  or  festivals. 

The  answer  of  Sciarelli,  Bishop  of  Colle,  and  one 
of  the  three  prelates  who  favored  a  thorough  reform, 
follows  next.  He  approves  of  all  the  proposals  of  the 
Grand  Duke ;  advises  following  the  example  of  Ricci 
after  his  council,  both  as  to  the  nature  and  the  mode 
of  the  reform  to  be  eifected  ;  quotes,  as  one  of  the  oaths 
which  ought  to  be  abolished,  that  which  is  taken  to 
the  See  of  Rome  at  the  time  of  consecration  ;  considers 
ordinary  bishops  possessed  of  sufficient  power,  without 
having  recourse  to  the  Pope,  to  govern  their  diocess,  to 
grant  dispensations  in  all  lawful  cases,  <fcc. ;  shows  a 
disposition  to  abolish  all  ceremonies,  processions,  fetes, 
&c.,  and  to  eject  all  images  which  might  have  been 
adjudged  dangerous  or  useless  ;  adds  several  books  to 
those  which  had  been  selected,  to  form  the  curates' 
library,  and  among  others,  the  works  of  authors 
accused  of  Jansenism;  and  proposes  the  suppression 
of  some  of  the  very  few  convents  existing  in  his 
diocess. 

Mancini,  Bishop  of  Fiesole,  and  one  of  the  most 
violent  of  the  opposition  party,  follows  next.  Before 
giving  his  answers,  he  puts  forth  several  general  prin- 
ciples, in  which  he  declares  all  reform  dangerous  and 
unlawful.  "  It  would  be  highly  culpable,"  says  he,  "  to 
attempt  to  re-establish  the  ancient  discipline  of  the 
Church,  by  virtue  of  which  the  diocesses  had  no  dis- 
tinct boundary,  the  priests  were  not  obliged  to  lead  a 
life  of  celibacy,  and  lived  from  day  to  day  on  the  offer- 
ings of  their  flocks,  and  the  communion  was  adminis- 
tered in  both  kinds." 

He  is  also  of  opinion,  that  it  would  be  excessively 
ridiculous  to  deny  the  right  of  the  Pope  to  the  univer- 
sal superintendence  and  control  of  the  Church,  since 
the  Protestants  themselves  had  confessed  that  he  was 
the  true  basis  of  the  stability  of  the  Catholic  religion. 
"  The  sole  aim  of  those  writers  who  attack  the  supre- 
macy of  the  Pope,"  says  he,  "  is  to  sever  every  political 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  143 

and  religious  tie,  and  to  destroy,  in  the  first  place,  the 
authority  of  the  Popes  by  the  agency  of  crowned 
heads,  and  in  the  next,  to  overturn  the  thrones  of 
sovereigns  themselves,  by  means  of  the  united  power 
of  the  people." 

Mancini  reduces  almost  to  nothing  the  authority  of 
the  diocesan  synod,  deprives  the  curates  of  all  right  to 
vote,  rejects  the  proposal  for  correcting  the  breviaries, 
and  the  use  of  the  vulgar  tongue  in  the  liturgy ;  will 
not  hear  of  the  bishops  reclaiming  any  of  their  rights 
which  might  have  devolved  to  the  see  of  Rome ;  de- 
fends all  religious  festivals,  the  pomp  of  the  churches, 
and  the  splendor  of  the  images ;  rejects  from  the  list  of 
books  which  had  been  proposed,  all  those  which  were 
suspected  of  a  leaning  to  Jansenism,  and  substitutes  for 
them  others,  which  he  reckons  better ;  and  testifies  great 
dread  of  intermeddling  with  the  privileges  and  exemp- 
tions of  the  monks,  &c, 

Ricci  approves  of  every  thing  which  had  been  pro- 
posed ;  quotes  the  synod  of  Jansenists  at  Utrecht  in 
1763,  as  a  model  for  the  Tuscan  bishops  in  their 
diocesan  synods,  to  which  their  curates  ought  to  be 
admitted  as  judges ;  and  advises  the  adoption  of  the 
greatest  caution  "  against  the  intrigues  o'f  the  Court  of 
Rome,  which  will  make  use  of  the  monks,  or  the  Nun- 
cio, to  overturn  the  plans  of  those  synods."  He  hopes 
that  the  bishops  will  not  so  far  forget  either  their 
duties  or  their  rights,  as  to  request  authority  from  the 
Papal  Court  for  granting  dispensations,  or  to  square 
their  conduct,  in  condemning  books,  by  the  Index  of  pro- 
hibited books  published  at  Rome — an  Index  whose 
authority  is  not  recognised  in  Tuscany.  He  requests 
the  immediate  assistance  of  Government  in  extirpating 
all  abuses  and  superstitious  practices,  proposes  several 
books,  the  greater  part  of  them  prohibited,  to  be  given 
to  the  curates,  (fcc. 

The  answers  of  Franseschi,  Archbishop  of  Pisa,  are 
the  most  fanatical  and  intractable  of  the  whole  body. 
He  carefully  keeps  out  of  view,  or  openly  condemns, 
all  measures  tending  to  diminish  in  any  way  the  rights 


144  SECRETS    OF 

or  pretentions,  the  privileges  and  prerogatives  of  the 
Court  of  Rome,  and  its  usurpations  of  the  rights  of  the 
bishops ;  the  encroachments  of  the  latter  on  those  of 
the  curates;  the  bhnd  respect  of  the  people  towards 
religious  prejudices ;  the  power  and  wealth  of  the 
clergy;  the  superstition  of  their  flocks,  &c. 

Borghesi,  Archbishop  of  Siena,  also  shows  himself  a 
zealous  opponent.  Among  other  things,  he  utters  ex- 
clamations of  regret  at  the  boldness  which  could  have 
prompted  any  one  to  insert  in  the  list  of  books  for  the 
curates,  the  writings  of  duesnel,  and  pronounces  a 
pompous  eulogy  on  the  Bull  Unig-enitus,  which  had 
condemned  him. 

Pannilini,  Bishop  of  Chiusi  and  Pienza,  joins  frankly 
in  the  principles  professed  by  the  Government.  He 
dissuades  the  Grand  Duke  from  assembling  his  bishops, 
with  whose  opposition  to  his  maxims,  and  attachment 
to  prejudices  of  every  description,  he  professes  to  be  well 
acquainted ;  and  gives  as  his  opinion,  that  they  ought 
not  to  be  permitted  to  hold  diocesan  synods,  except  with 
the  assistance  of  two  deputies  from  the  Government,  and 
on  condition  that  they  should  adopt  for  their  model,  a 
synod  which  had  already  been  approved,  such,  for  ex- 
ample, as  that  of  Pistoia.  He  distinguishes  clearly,  in 
the  affair  of  marriage,  the  nuptial  contract  from  the 
nuptial  benediction.  "  In  the  quality  of  a  civil  con- 
tract it  always  remained  under  the  control  of  the 
princes,  and  of  the  laws  of  the  different  countries  ;  and 
was  only  withdrawn  from  that  control  since  the  time 
when  the  Church  added  the  nuptial  benediction  to  the 
civil  formalities  required  by  Government." 

The  Bishop  of  Chiusi,  in  deciding  on  the  different 
points,  always  embraces  the  views  of  the  Grand  Duke, 
and  sometimes  even  goes  beyond  them. 

The  answers  of  Franci,  Bishop  of  Grossetto,  and 
one  of  the  most  unreasonable  of  the  opposition  party, 
are  scarcely  any  thing  else  than  an  apology  for  all  the 
abuses,  all  the  superstitious  practices,  and  all  the  usur- 
pations of  the  Court  of  Rome,  and  of  the  bishops. 
That  prelate  pretends   that   the   suppression   of  the 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  145 

society  for  liberating  souls  from  purgatory,  and  of  the 
practice  of  begging  for  their  support,  had  given  rise  to 
doubts  in  the  minds  of  the  people  as  to  the  very  exist- 
ence of  purgatory  itself 

Santo,  Bishop  of  Soana,  wholly  devoted  to  the  prin- 
ciples professed  by  the  Augustinians  or  Jansenists,  and 
by  the  canonists  or  politicians,  approves  and  even 
extends  Leopold's  plans  of  reform,  especially  those  for 
erecting  in  Tuscany  an  independent  national  church. 
He  insists  with  much  earnestness  on  the  necessity  of  re- 
forming the  "breviary,  which  is  so  full  of  fabulous  and 
foolish  stories;"  and  proposes  the  tenth  synod  of  Charles 
Boromeus,  and  the  synod  of  Jansenists  at  Utrecht  in 
1763,  as  the  best  models  for  the  diocesan  synods  of 
Tuscany.  "  The  privileges  of  the  Court  of  Rome,"  he 
denominates,  are  "  constantly  pernicious,"  and  con- 
fesses that  "  the  books  proposed  by  the  Grand  Duke 
for  the  curates  are  undoubtedly  possessed  of  merit, 
whatever  the  partisans  of  the  Court  of  Rome  may  say 
to  the  contrary ;"  but  requests  some  little  indulgence 
for  his  own  diocess,  which  fell  in  with  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Pope,  was  consequently  infested  with  great  pre- 
judice, and  in  which  "  a  book  prohibited  by  the  Court 
of  Rome  was  held  in  the  utmost  abomination." 

The  Bishop  of  Arezzo,  Marani,  opposes  the  schemes 
of  Leopold,  but  as  it  seems  through  policy  and  timid- 
ity, as  he  gives  us  to  understand  in  the  general  consid- 
erations, with  which  he  has  prefaced  his  answers. 
Sudden  and  unexpected  reforms  would,  in  his  opinion, 
disturb  the  consciences  of  the  simple  ;  and  perhaps  by 
that  means  the  tranquillity  of  the  state. 

Alexander  Ciribi,  Bishop  of  Cortona,  acknowledges 
the  necessity  of  several  reforms,  and  agrees  to  the 
execution  of  some  of  them. 

The  most  complete  and  decided  opposition  was  ex- 
pressed in  the  answers  of  Pecci,  Bishop  of  Montaleino. 
His  general  objection  to  all  the  proposed  reforms  is, 
"  that  the  doctrines  which  circulate  under  the  garb  of 
true  piety  are  the  most  pernicious,  because  they  tend 

13 


146  SECRETS    OF 

to  overthrow^  hy  little  and  little^  the  Christian  j^eligion 
itsel/y 

Franzesi,  Bishop  of  Montepulciano,  was  the  most 
obstinate  defender  of  the  Court  of  Rome,  and  the  most 
zealous  enemy  of  all  change  or  innovation  in  the  shape 
of  reform.  Some  idea  may  be  formed  of  this,  from 
a  letter  which  he  addressed  to  the  Grand  Duke,  at  the 
time  of  sending  his  answers  to  the  fifty-seven  ecclesi- 
astical points. 

In  that  letter  he  describes  Leopold  as  surrounded 
with  a  set  of  bishops  who  had  shamelessly  intro- 
duced the  most  pernicious  projects,  and  who  scrupled 
not  to  make  a  tool  of  the  Prince  for  inflicting  on  reli- 
gion the  most  fatal  blows,  with  the  view  of  entirely 
overturning  it.  "They  have  almost  succeeded  in  car- 
rying their  designs  into  effect  in  Tuscany,"  says  he, 
"where  they  have  introduced  heresy  and  schism, 
which  are  slowly  destroying  some  diocesses,  and 
where  they  support  that  party  which,  by  and  by,  will 
separate  the  Grand  Duchy  from  the  Church  of  Rome. 

"  They  have  already  succeeded  in  making  the  Tus- 
can church  take  several  steps  towards  complete  inde- 
pendence. We  see  monks  and  nuns  reduced  to  a 
regular  state  by  the  sole  authority  of  bishops,  who 
really  are  apostates,  perjurers  to  God,  and  rebels  to  the 
Church." 

He  next  proceeds  to  make  several  violent  attacks  on 
the  changes  introduced  into  the  calendars  of  different 
diocesses,  on  all  licenses,  and  especially  on  matrimonial 
dispensations  granted  by  those  only  holding  the  rank 
and  authority  of  bishop.  "  What  is  the  consequence  of 
these  things?  In  the  dominions  of  your  Royal  Highness 
there  are  apostates  and  rebels  to  God,  persons  who  keep 
concubines,  and  who  live  in  that  state  of  damnation, 
without  the  smallest  remorse." 

He  next  attacks  what  he  calls  the  "schismatic  Synod 
of  Utrecht,  which  one  party,  says  he,  praised  in  the 
highest  degree,  and  endeavored  to  disseminate  copies 
of  its  acts  among  the  people.  Speaking  of  the  "Eccle- 
siastical Annals  of  Florence," — "  I  protest  before  God, 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  147 

that  they  are  sufficient  to  inspire  any  true  Catholic  with 
horror,  and  that  they  are  a  scandal  to  the  whole 
Church." 

He  complains  in  the  bitterest  terms  of  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  convents.  ^'  It  is  disgusting,  to  hear  ene- 
mies exclaiming  every  where  with  all  their  might,  that 
the  monastic  orders  are  useless." 

He  endeavors  to  prove  that  the  Jansenism  of  Tus- 
cany, which  he  terms  the  growing  heresy,  was  making 
every  imaginable  effort  to  establish  "natural  religion, 
which,  to  say  the  truth,"  adds  ha,  "  is  only  a  brutal 
deism."  This  is  the  end  aimed  at  by  all  these  new 
deists,  Avho  have,  by  deceiving  them,  contrived  to  glide 
in  among  the  Catholics  :  their  sole  aim  is,  to  degrade 
the  church  of  Tuscany  to  a  level  with  the  deism  of 
Holland,  of  England,  and  a  great  part  of  Germany." 

The  Bishop  of  Montepulciano,  in  his  answers  to 
the  fifty-seven  points,  instead  of  consenting  to  the 
correction  of  the  breviary  and  Romish  missals,  which, 
in  his  opinion,  have  no  occasion  to  be  altered,  implores 
the  Grand  Duke  to  give  orders  for  re-establishing  them 
in  their  ancient  form  in  all  the  diocesses  in  which,  to 
the  great  scandal  of  true  believers,  they  had  attempted 
to  reform  them.  He  represents  the  doctrine  of  Augus- 
tin  as  extremely  dangerous,  since  '-Luther,  Calvin,  and 
Jansenius,  with  all  his  adherents,  have  erroneously  pre- 
tended that  their  false  doctrines  were  founded  on  the 
writings  of  that  father  of  the  Church."  These  inno- 
vators, says  he,  easily  convert  his  doctrines  to  the 
worst  purposes,  "  especially  those  relating  to  grace  and 
free-will,  whenever  they  wish  to  deprive  man  of  that 
same  free-will,  in  order  to  set  down  every  thing  to  the 
account  of  grace."  He  proscribes  even  the  celebrated 
work  of  Muratori,  "  Devotion  Regulated,"  that  writer 
having,  in  his  opinion,  shown  himself,  in  that  work, 
"equally  deficient  in  talent  and  in  genius." 

It  may  easily  be  conceived,  that,  after  condemning 
Muratori,  he  does  not  hesitate  to  threaten  with  dam- 
nation "all  the  rash  projectors  and  enemies  of  the 
Catholic  religion,  who  have  had  the  effrontery  to  pro- 


148  SECRETS    OF 

pose  the  reading  of  books  prohibited  by  the  Court  of 
Rome."  The  ''Moral  Reflections  of  auesnel,"— "  in 
which,"  says  he,  "  the  Church,  by  a  decided  and  un- 
alterable sentence,  has  borne  testimony  to  a  hundred 
and  one  heresies,  errors,  and  dangerous  opinions,"  &c. ; 
the  Treatises  of  Tamburini,  "  a  declared  enemy  of  the 
Holy  See  ;"  and  the  "  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Racine," 
which  fills  the  mind  with  false  and  mistaken  prejudices 
against  the  Court  of  Rome,  <fcc. — he  terms,  the  most 
venomous  books. 

III.  The  opposition  which  Leopold  encountered 
from  the  majority  of  the  higher  order  of  the  clergy, 
at  the  time  of  the  ecclesiastical  assembly  of  Florence-, 
ought  to  be  set  down  to  the  account  of  corruption  and 
knavery. 

The  Prince,  on  his  accession  to  the  throne,  had 
adopted  every  possible  means  for  diffusing  information 
and  knowledge  among  his  subjects,  and  particularly 
among  those  who  are  entrusted  with  the  guidance  and 
instruction  of  others. 

In  1770,  he  ordered  to  be  begun  the  publication  of  a 
work,  entitled  "  Collection  of  Writings  relative  to  the 
dependence  of  Ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  on  Civil  au- 
thority." The  work  contained  all  the  reports,  memoirs, 
and  consultations,  composed  in  difl?erent  Catholic  coun- 
tries by  order  of  their  governments,  with  the  view  of 
turning  the  lights  of  reason  and  philosophy  to  the 
maxims  and  conduct  of  the  clergy,  and  of  setting 
honnds  to  the  insatiable  cupidity,  and  inextinguish- 
ahle  thirst  after  power,  which  the  Court  of  Rome  had 
always  manifested,  and  which  had  proved  an  invin- 
cible obstacle  to  the  jjolitical,  7noral,  and  religious 
improvement,  both  of  the  people  and  of  their  sove- 
reigns. 

We  quote  from  this  collection  what  appears  to  be 
most  in  unison  with  tlie  principles  of  Ricci,  of  Leopold 
himself,  and  of  the  enlightened  men  of  his  age,  who 
were  desirous  of  seeing,  in  the  homage  rendered  to  the 
Almighty,  a  guarantee  for  the  practice  of  all  the  social 
virtues, — and  in  the  ministers  of  religion,  the  comfort- 


FEMALE     CONVENTS.  149 

ers  of  man,  the  messengers  of  peace,  the  friends  of  good 
order  and  humanity. 

IV.  In  the  defence  of  Cecile  Fargo,  who  had  been 
accused  of  sorcery,  pronounced  at  Naples  by  the 
Counsellor  Joseph  Raffaele,  March,  1770,  we  read  as 
follows  : — 

"  Christians  yielded  the  most  complete  obedience  to 
the  civil  authority,  whilst  they  were  weak.  As  soon, 
however,  as  they  felt  themselves  less  dependent  on  its 
protection  ;  when  they  became  more  numerous,  and 
more  wealthy,  they  still  professed  fidelity  to  the  civil 
authority,  and  allowed  that  it  had  a  right  to  exact  it 
from  them ;  but  they  used  this  profession  of  humility 
and  obedience,  merely  for  the  purpose  of  increasing 
those  immunities  and  privileges  which  inconsiderate 
princes  were  so  imprudent  as  to  offer  to  them,  and 
which  ended  in  releasing  them  from  the  performance 
of  every  duty  towards  society,  or  its  members. 

"  When  the  world  became  Christian,  the  people 
ceased  to  enjoy  any  prerogatives,  or  privileges,  and 
became  what  the  mass  of  the  population  of  heathen 
countries  had  formerly  been,  and  what  the  mass  of  the 
people  in  most  countries  still  is — the  useful  and  ener- 
getic, but  despised  and  oppressed  portion  of  society. 
The  only  chosen  and  privileged  class,  the  only  one 
that  enjoyed  the  pleasures  and  comforts  of  life,  was 
the  clergy,  which  dictated  its  own  privileges,  but  re- 
cognised the  performance  of  no  duties. 

"The  transference  of  the  seat  of  empire  to  Constan- 
tinople was  the  origin  of  the  power  of  the  western 
clergy,  and  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  the  most  powerful 
prelate  in  the  liatin  Church.  The  heresy  of  the  Icono- 
clasts was  adroitly  employed  by  him  to  render  himself 
entirely  independent  of  the  Greek  goverrmient. 

"  The  obligations  contracted  towards  the  Court  of 
Rome  by  the  Carlo vingian  race,  which  had  been  es- 
tablished, or  rather  legitimated  in  the  possession  of  the 
throne  of  France  by  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  who  had  not 
as  yet  the  hardihood  to  call  himself  its  sovereign,  with 
the  gratitude  evinced  by  the  same  race  in  return  for 

13* 


150  SECRETS    OF 

the  Empire  of  the  West,  which  they  soon  after  received 
at  his  hands,  rendered  the  Popes  formidable,  first  to  the 
Lombards,  who  were  masters  of  Italy,  and  next  to  the 
Emperors  of  the  West  themselves. 

^'  Gregory  XL  mounted  the  Papal  throne,  and  re- 
duced into  a  regular  system,  the  whole  of  that  hitherto 
unshapely  mass  of  privileges  and  exemptions,  which 
had  been  slowly  constructed,  partly  on  the  ignorance 
and  superstition  of  the  people,  and  partly  on  the  weak- 
ness and  cowardice  of  the  diiferent  governments.  In- 
stead of  considering,  or  allowing  others  to  consider, 
those  prerogatives  and  privileges  as  derived  from  the 
good-will  of  those  emperors  who  had  been  recognised 
as  their  sovereigns,  the  Popes  boldly  laid  claim  to  them 
as  original  and  incontestable  rights  ;  became,  hy  divine 
right,  what  it  was  now  impossible  to  prevent  them  from 
becoming  ;  and  even  carried  their  unfounded  and  ridi- 
culous pretensions  so  far  as  to  grasp  at  absolute  uni- 
versal empire.  The  two  Councils  of  Lateran  sanctioned 
this  gigantic  system,  by  the  adherence,  believed  to  be 
infallible,  of  deputies  from  the  whole  Church,  who, 
they  said,  had  been  assembled  in  the  name  and  by  the 
authority  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  From  that  period,  who- 
ever ventured  to  attack  either  the  persons  or  the  pro- 
perty of  the  clergy,  was  threatened  with  the  spiritual 
thunder  of  the  Church,  and  its  awful  consequences, 
both  in  this  world  and  the  next.  The  energies  and 
the  intelligence  of  mankind  were  thus  completely  para- 
lyzed, and  society,  in  the  very  period  of  its  infancy,  fell 
into  the  weakness  and  decrepitude  of  age. '  ^^ 

"  The  clergy,  now  constituting  an  immense  army  ^ 
without  either  restraint  or  moderal;ion,  formed  in  every 
kingdom  a  kind  of  separate  state,  which  did  not  recog- 
nise the  control  of  the  sovereign,  and  was  consequently 
superior  to  him.     At  first,  it  only  yielded  obedience  to 
its  immediate  chiefs,  the  bishops  and  archbishops;  but 
by  their  means  connected  itself  in  a  very  short  time 
with  the  supreme  head  of  all,  the  Bishop  of  Rome  ;   ■. 
and  a  theocracy,  in  consequence,  gave  law  to  the  whole  h 
Christian  world." 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  151 

V.  The  twenty-fourth  number,  in  which  Bianchi 
demonstrates  that  the  clergy  are  subject  to  the  civil 
power,  and  that  they  ought  to  bear  a  part  in  contribut- 
ing to  the  expenses  of  the  Government,  proves,  that 
the  privileges  granted  to  the  clergy,  through  the  weak- 
ness of  sovereigns,  were  in  a  short  time  converted 
into  canons,  which  contained  what  it  denominated  its 
rights.  By  degrees,  new  canons  were  enacted  for  the 
extension  of  the  old,  and  new  rights  created  by  the 
priests  themselves,  in  aid  of  those  which  they  owed  to 
the  indulgence  or  concessions  of  Government.  In  this 
manner  was  the  enormous  edifice  of  sacerdotal  power 
constructed  ;  a  power  supported  by  civil  and  religious 
laws,  composed  of  the  real  and  personal  immunities  of 
the  clergy,  and  declared  by  it  to  be  sacred  and  inviola- 
ble. To  attempt  the  least  encroachment  upon  it  was 
high  treason — a  crime  at  all  times  dreadful,  but  more 
especially  so,  when  the  clergy  are  invested  with  the 
supreme  authority,  and  are  considered  by  the  ignorant 
and  superstitious  multitude  as  the  avengers  of  that  God 
whose  will  they  profess  to  declare. 

YI.  It  was,  however,  more  especially  the  Bull 
CGena  Domini^  as  containing  a  sketch  of  all  the  pre 
tended  rights  of  the  Pope,  which  irritated  the  Catholic 
governments  of  that  period ;  particularly  after  the  scan- 
dalous affair  of  the  Duke  of  Parma,  in  which  the  Pope 
had  the  impudence  to  bring  forward  that  Bull  in  sup- 
port of  his  insolent  proceedings.  The  Senate  of  Venice 
had  a  report  of  the  whole  draAvn  up  for  their  inform- 
ation, March,  1769. 

In  that  document  it  is  proved  to  demonstration,  by 
a  minute  and  careful  examination  of  each  article  of  the 
anti-social  Bull  In  coena  Domini^  that  in  many  of  its 
points  it  is  destructive  of  all  civil  authority,  and  that 
it  wounds  it  deeply  in  the  others ;  that  if  it  were  scru- 
pulously observed  by  the  clergy  and  their  flocks,  all 
government  would  be  at  an  end,  and  the  Pope  would 
be  sole  master  both  of  the  actions  and  consciences,  the 
persons  and  the  property,of  every  people,  who,  in  conse- 


Od      I, 

In   /^ 


132  SECRETS    OF 

queiice,  would  be  alike  destitute  of  princes  and  magis- 
trates, of  councils  and  bishops. 

The  Republic  of  Venice  never  consented  to  receive 
the  Bull  In  coena,  and  proscribed  it  frequently,  not- 
withstanding the  remonstrances  of  the  Pontifical  Nun- 
cios ;  rejecting  on  all  occasions  the  interference  of  the 
confessors  employed  by  the  Court  of  Rome  to  relieve 
its  subjects  from  the  censures  incurred  by  contravening 
the  provisions  of  the  Bull,  and  preventing  them  from 
executing  their  functions. 

The  Court  of  Rome,  which  never  blushed  to  employ 
any  means  which  had  been  useful  to  them  in  former 
times,  and  might  still  be  so  in  future — Rome,  to  this 
very  day,  delegates  authority  for  granting  absolution  ^ 
in  those  cases  which  it  has  reserved  in  the  Bull  In  ] 
coena  Do7nini :  and  there  are  priests,  subjects  of  anti- 
Catholic  govern7nents,  v'ho  are  not  only  furnished  ivith 
that  authority  J  hut  who  also  exercise  it  without  hesita- 
tion. 

VII.  The  Republic  of  Venice  ordered  an  account 
to  be  drawn  up,  by  an  ecclesiastical  commission  of  its 
own  appointment,  of  the  amount  of  money  which  was 
annually  extracted  from  its  subjects  by  the  pprpirimis 
organization  of  the  clergy.  The  Court  of  Rome  still 
continuesto  levy  the  same  contribution  as  it  formerly 
did  on  the  inhabitants  of  Catholic  countries. 

The  annual  revenue  of  the  ecclesiastical  benefices 
held  by  the  subjects  of  the  republic,  and  not  situated 
within  its  territories,  amount  to  260,000  francs. 

The  ecclesiastical  pensions  payable  to  foreigners,  to 
75,000  francs. 

Twenty-eight  bulls,  for  canonical  induction  to  patri- 
archal, episcopal,  and  archiepifscopal  sees,  obtained  in 
the  course  of  ten  years,  had  cost  nearly  5,000,000 
francs;  without  reckoning  in  that  enormous  sum,  the 
very  great  expense  incurred  by  those  who  had  been 
nominated,  in  making  a  journey  to  Rome  for  the  pur- 
pose of  being  consecrated. 

During  the  same  ten  years,  50,000  francs  had  been 

I 


FEMALE    CONVENTS,  153 

paid  for  forty-two  Bulls  for  abbeys,  priories,  and  pro- 
vostships. 

One  hundred  and  ten  Bulls  for  pensions,  which  had 
been  granted,  amounted  to  78,800  francs. 

Two  hundred  and  twenty-five  Bulls  for  parish 
churches,  had  been  worth  to  the  Pope  130,000  francs, 
without  reckoning  what  the  curates  must  have  paid 
privately  to  the  cardinals,  if  they  had  been  maintained 
during  the  months  reserved  for  these  princes  of  the 
Church. 

Twenty-seven  Bulls  for  canonships,  collegiate  church- 
es, &c.  cost  more  than  80,000  francs. 

Forty-five  Bulls  for  collations  to  one  hundred  and 
fifty  simple  benefices,  amounted  to  12,600  francs. 

During  the  year  1768,  there  arrived  from  Rome  1130 
rescripts,  indulgences,  privileges  to  altars,  dispensations 
relative  to  the  granting  of  holy  orders,  permissions  to 
maintain  private  chapels,  displomas  conferring  the  title 
of  coimt,  (fee. ;  the  whole  for  the  sum  of  44,500  francs. 

Rome  granted,  during  the  same  year,  589  dispens- 
ations for  marriages,  which  brought  an  enormous  and 
unknown  sum  into  its  treasury.  All  that  it  was  pos- 
sible to  discover  as  to  its  amount,  was,  that  those  dis- 
pensations which  Avere  requested  and  obtained  without 
any  good  reason  being  alleged,  cost  ten  times,  and  even 
twenty  times,  more  than  those  for  which  any  real  cause 
was  assigned.  The  report  reckons  all  these  dispens- 
ations, on  an  average  of  the  highest  and  lowest  rates, 
at  a  sum  of  1,050,000  francs. 

The  report  also  states,  that  the  conduct  of  the  Court 
of  Rome,  in  this  respect,  is  contrary  to  the  recommend- 
ations of  the  Council  of  Trent,  which  in  the  fifth  chap- 
ter of  its  twenty-fourth  Session  on  reform,  gives  its 
advice  to  grant  dispensations  of  marriage  as  seldom  as 
possible,  and  orders  them  to  be  issued,  in  all  cases,  free 
of  expense.  The  same  Council  forbids  granting  them 
in  the  second  degree,  unless  for  reasons  of  a  grave  and 
public  nature,  and  in  favor  of  princes  and  kings  only, 
whose  marriage  may  affect  the  interests  of  religion  or 
the  state.     The  Court  of  Rome,  without  paying  the 


154  SECRETS    OF 

slightest  regard  to  that  prohibition,  granted  in  the 
course  of  a  single  year,  twenty-four  dispensations  to 
citizens  of  the  RepubUc,  whose  only  claims  to  the  in- 
dulgence of  the  Papal  Court  were  the  large  sums  of 
money  which  they  were  willing  to  place  at  its  disposal. 

YIII.  "  At  first,"  says  another  memoir,  addressed  to 
the  Yenetian  Senate,  "  the  Popes  graciously  entreated 
the  bishops,  to  confer  some  ecclesiastical  benefice  on 
the  poor  priests,  whom  they  recommended  to  their 
protection  ;  but  in  a  short  time  these  entreaties  were 
changed  into  exhortations,  the  exhortations  into  admo- 
nitions, the  admonitions  into  orders,  threats,  excommu- 
nications, pecuniary  fines,  and  finally,  into  an  absolute 
despotism,  which  overthrew  the  whole  system  on  which 
benefices  had  originally  been  granted.  By  these  means 
not  only  were  mandates,  expectations,  anticipations, 
and  all  the  other  stratagems  devised  by  the  Court  of 
Rome  for  its  own  advantage  and  the  ruin  of  others, 
introduced ;  but  a  large  field  was  opened  for  keeping 
alive  every  abuse  by  which  the  Church  was  disfigured, 
and  the  patrimony  of  the  poor  exhausted,  and  which 
have  given  rise  to  so  many  grounds  of  difierence  in  the 
last  general  councils.  The  regulations  of  the  Roman 
chancery,  the  plurality  of  benefices,  translations  from 
one  living  to  another,  resignations  in  favor  of  particu- 
lar individuals,  assistantships,  with  a  clause  for  future 
succession,  commendams,  resignations  in  court,  first 
fruits,  dispensations  from  possessing  the  qualifications 
required  by  the  canons,  and  a  great  number  of  other 
irregularities  and  abuses  deplored  by  the  pious,  and 
condemned  by  the  decrees  of  the  Church,  are  still  in 
existence,  and  still  practised  in  the  same  way  as  they 
formerly  were. 

"  So  far  all  this  only  relates  to  the  interests  of  reli- 
gion. But  is  the  civil  authority  less  injured  by  this 
overthrow  of  principle  and  good  order?  Ought  it  to 
sit  in  patience  and  allow  a  foreign  prince  to  distribute 
its  revenues  and  its  wealth,  to  levy  contributions,  and 
to  attach  to  him  by  an  oath  of  fidelity  those  with  whose 
government  it  is  intrusted,  without  his   having  any 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  155 

title  to  allege  in  favor  of  such  authority-,  or  being  able 
to  exhibit  the  least  claim  for  such  sovereign  dominion?" 

IX.  The  abuses  caused  by  the  excessive  number  of 
masses,  were  attacked  in  a  vigorous  and  unanswerable 
manner,  in  a  memoir  on  that  subject. 

Perpetual  foundations  for  saying  masses,  and  lega- 
cies destined  for  their  support,  were  unknown  in  any 
part  of  the  Church  during  several  centuries,  and  still 
are  so  in  the  East,  where  the  maxims  and  customs 
prevalent  in  primitive  ages,  have  been  more  strictly 
maintained.  Devout  persons  occasionally  bequeathed 
gifts  to  the  Church  for  the  remission  of  their  sins,  but 
without  imposing  any  particular  condition  or  obliga- 
tion. 

The  parish  mass  was,  for  a  long  time,  the  only  one 
which  was  celebrated ;  and  Christians  were  bound  by 
the  canons  of  the  Church  to  assist  at  it.  Until  the 
sixth  century,  bread  and  wine,  intended  to  relieve  the 
most  urgent  wants  of  the  Church  and  of  the  poor, 
were  the  only  oiferings  presented  to  the  priest  who 
celebrated  mass.  In  the  ninth  century  private  masses 
began,  and  they  came  into  great  vogue,  principally  by 
means  of  the  monks.  The  secular  clergy  showed 
themselves  eager  to  take  advantage  of  them,  and  great 
murmuring  and  dissatisfaction  were  occasioned  by 
such  an  unheard-of  innovation  on  the  established 
practice  of  the  Church.  These  murmurs  redoubled, 
when  the  private  masses  became  solitary^  that  is, 
when  they  were  celebrated  by  a  single  priest,  without 
the  presence  or  assistance  of  any  one. 

The  great  increase  in  numbers  of  the  clergy  gave 
rise  to  such  an  increase  in  the  number  of  masses,  that 
it  at  last  became  necessary  to  say  several  at  the  same 
time  in  the  same  church.  The  parish  masses  were  in 
consequence  given  up,  and  the  people  were  obliged  to 
accustom  themselves  to  join  bodily  and  mentally  in  the 
masses  which  were  said  by  the  priests  for  a  particular 
purpose,  either  expressed  or  understood. 

Hence  arose  the  practice  of  asking  charity  in  behalf 
of  masses,  and   next  that  of  paying  a  salary  to  the 


156  SECRETS    OF 

celebrator,  or  the  price  of  the  sacrifice^  as  they  impu- 
dently termed  it.  Popes  Eugenius  II.  and  Leo  IV. 
made  the  most  vigorous  exertions  to  prevent  this 
strange  abuse,  which  did  not  come  into  general  practice 
till  after  the  twelfth  century. 

"  To  complete  our  shame  and  extreme  wretchedness, 
the  sacrifice  of  the  mass  has  been  profaned  to  such  a 
degree  both  by  the  regular  and  secular  clergy,  that 
they  have  had  the  impudence  to  establish  fixed  rates 
for  saying  masses,  like  so  many  mechanics  and  mer- 
cenaries ;  rates  which  vary  according  to  the  fatigue 
and  quantity  of  time  required  for  celebrating  them. 
The  practice  came  so  much  into  vogue,  that  nothing 
was  so  common  as  to  augment  the  price  for  masses 
which  were  chanted,  and  for  those  celebrated  at  a 
privileged  altar.  The  priest  turned  every  circum- 
stance to  account — the  devotion  of  the  people  towards 
a  particular  saint,  a  relic,  an  image  reported  to  be 
miraculous,"  &c. 

This  devotion,  powerfully  stimulated  by  the  innu- 
merable contrivances  which  the  avarice  of  the  monks 
suggested,  caused  a  great  influx  of  masses  into  their 
convents.  They  had  consigned  to  them,  in  the  course 
of  a  very  short  time,  more  than  they  could  celebrate  ; 
but  being  reluctant  either  to  put  a  check  upon  the 
credulity  of  the  public,  or  to  restore  what  had  only 
been  given  them  upon  conditions  with  which  they 
were  unable  to  comply,  they  addressed  themselves  to 
the  Court  of  Rome,  which  agreed  to  divide  with  them 
what  they  had  no  title  to,  and  allowed  them  to  retain 
the  remainder  with  a  clear  conscience.  ''  The  monks 
were  thus  released  from  all  obligation  to  repair  the 
evils,  of  whatever  magnitude,  which  they  had  origi- 
nated, by  celebrating  one  or  more  masses,  which  the 
common  people  ironically  termed  the  great  mass  ;  or, 
by  paying  a  money  tax  for  the  support  of  Peter's  at 
Rome,  which  the  agents  of  that  court  denominated  the 
Composition  tax." 

The  people  requested  to  be  informed  if  a  single  mass 
was  equivalent  to  many?  and  in  case  of  its  being  so, 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  I57 

why  the  priests  burthen  themselves  with  so  many  at 
the  same  time,  and  collected  the  price  of  celebrating 
them?  If  on  the  other  hand  one  is  not  as  good  as 
several,  they  requested  to  know  why  these  pri'ests  did 
not  restore  the  money  which  they  had  received  on 
promises  which  they  would  not  keep  ? 

After  this  question,  to  wliich  it  would  be  very  diffi- 
cult to  reply  in  a  satisfactory  manner,  the  memorialist 
enters  into  various  details  in  regard  to  the  different 
indulgences  granted  by  the  See  of  Rome  at  different 
periods,  to  the  religious  orders  which  had  been  charged 
with  the  celebration  of  more  masses  than  they  could 
perform,  and  from  which  they  desired  to  be  released. 
In  the  seventeen  century  these  indulgences  came  into 
fashion ;  in  the  eighteenth  they  were  multiplied 
beyond  all  precedent,  by  the  prodigality  of  Bene- 
dict XIV. 

/  In  the  church  of  the  Dominicans  of  the  order  of 
/  John  and  Paul  at  Venice,  there  were  found  in  arrear 
in  1743,  16,400  masses  ;  and  the  following  year,  in  the 
church  of  Lady  dell-Orto,  the  duty  of  which  was  per- 
formed by  Cistercian  monks,  no  fewer  than  14,300. 

X.  In  a  memorial  presented  to  the  Junto  of  the  Ten 
Sages,  commissioned  ad  fais  causas^  June,  1767,  we 
read  that,  until  tlie  time  of  Gregory  VIL,  the  very  few 
oaths  which  had  been  taken  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome  by 
the  other  bishops,  were  only  simple  promises  of  canoni- 
cal deference.  Hildebrand  exacted  Avith  rigor  as 
duties  of  fidelity,  what  his  predecessors  had  very  rarely 
solicited  as  pledges  of  union.  He  changed  the  formula 
of  the  oath,  and  exacted  that  homage  from  his  col- 
leagues, whom  he  was  desirous  of  reducing  to  the 
situation  of  vassals  to  the  Roman  See,  whose  subjects 
they  become  at  the  very  moment  when  the  authority 
which  they  acquire  over  their  fellow  citizens  ought  to 
leave  them  free  from  all  obligations  except  those  due 
to  their  country. 

The  next  paper  proves,  by  the  most  natural  inter- 
pretation of  each  article  in  the  oath  taken  by  the 
bishops  to  the  See  of  Rome,  that  it  is  nothing  else  but 

14 


158  SECRETS    OF 

an  express  and  solemn  ^promise  on  oath  to  betray  their 
respective  sovereigns^  and  that  each  clause  of  the  oath 
imposes  an  obligation  to  commit  high  treason. 

XL  The  canon  ]aw  is  attacked  by  a  monk  named 
Francis- Wenceslaus  Barkovich.  "  Tiie  letters  which 
we  have  quoted,  the  decretals  of  Mercator,  are  full  of 
maxims  unknown  before  that  time :  dictated  by  the 
grossest  io^norance,  they  abound  in  the  most  glaring 
anachronisms ;  are  wholly  unworthy  of  the  majestic 
simplicity  of  the  first  ages  of  Christianity,  and  entirely 
contrary  to  its  ancient  practice.  The  discovery  of  the 
imposture  came  too  late.  The  Court  of  Rome,  taking 
advantage  of  the  ignorance  which  everywhere  pre- 
vailed, laid  hold  of  it  at  once,  first  for  establishing,  and 
afterwards  for  consolidating  and  extending  beyond  all 
precedent,  the  authority  which  she  arrogated  to  herself 

'^  The  principal  doctrines  inculcated  in  that  fraudu- 
lent collection  are,  that  the  Pope  is  bishop  of  all  Chris- 
tendom; that  all  causes  of  importance  ought  to  be 
brought  by  appeal  before  the  See  of  Rome ;  that 
causes  relating  to  bishops  belong  exclusively  to  the 
Pope ;  that  he  ought  to  convoke  and  preside  in  all 
general  councils ;  that  no  council,  Avhether  general  or 
particular,  is  binding  unless  approved  of  by  the  Pope  ; 
that  he  has  authority  to  allow  bishops  to  give  up  the 
churches  to  which  they  have  been  appointed,  for  the 
purpose  of  being  translated  to  a  richer  and  more  illus- 
trious See  ;  that  apostolic  appeals  to  the  See  of  Rome 
were  usual  before  the  Council  of  Sardica ;  that  metro- 
politans were  never  allowed  to  enter  upon  the  exercise 
of  their  functions  before  obtaining  the  pallium  at  the 
hands  of  the  Pope  ;  that  from  the  very  origin  of  Chris- 
tianity, it  was  an  established  and  undisputed  maxim 
that  every  church  which  departed  from  the  usages  and 
ceremonies  adopted  by  the  Church  of  Rome,  ought  to 
be  considered  as  heretical,  &c. 

"  Notwithstanding  the  measures  adopted  in  latter 
times  for  checking  the  excessive  power  of  the  Popes, 
that  power  is  still  sufficiently  enormous  to  encourage 
the  hope  of  re-establishing  and  enlarging  it.     Sove- 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  159 

reign  princes  will  have  always  grounds  for  fear  whilst 
the  bishops  are  treated  as  subjects  by  the  Court  of 
Rome ;  whilst  money  shall  continue  to  flow  in  abun- 
dance towards  Rome,  and  while  the  favors  which  these 
princes  allow  her  to  distribute  with  such  profusion, 
shall  have  the  power  of  procuring  for  her  partisans 
and  abettors.-' 

XII.  An  important  and  excellent  memoir  was  drawn 
up  by  the  commission  which  the  Republic  of  Yenice 
intrusted  with  the  reform  of  the  public  institutions  for 
education. 

The  redactor  of  the  memoir  proves  that  the  Go- 
vernment had  done  but  little  towards  the  emancipation 
of  the  civil  authority  by  proscribing  the  Bull  In  Ccena 
Domini.  "  The  reform  which  is  most  required,"  says 
he,  "  is  that  of  the  studies  of  ecclesiastics,  in  order  to 
prevent  anti-social  principles  from  becoming  the  reli- 
gion of  those  who  are  destined  by  their  profession  to 
instruct  and  direct  the  people.  For  this  purpose  it  is 
necessary  to  abolish  the  canon  law  and  the  decretals, 
which  are  the  real  sources  of  that  monstrous  system — 
the  Bull  In  Ccena  Domini  being  only  a  natural  and 
necessary  consequence  of  it.  ^  ---— 

"  In  these  decretals  a  doctrine  is  taught,  which  is 
contrary  to  every  law  both  human  and  divine.  By 
these  decretals  a  monarch  is  set  up  who  recognises  no 
other  limits  to  his  dominion  than  the  universe  ;  whose 
laws  and  commands  the  kings  and  princes  of  the  earth 
are  bound  to  obey;  and  if  any  of  them  shall  dare  to 
maintain  his  right  to  sovereignty,  he  is  declared  guilty 
of  treason  and  rebellion  ;  his  subjects  are  released  from 
their  oath  of  fidelity,  and  his  territories  exposed  and 
abandoned  to  the  invasion  of  foreigners. 

"  This  despot  is  also  declared  to  be  the  legislator  of 
the  universe ;  to  be  possessed  of  authority  to  alter,  re- 
form, or  abolish,  the  laws  of  all  kingdoms  and  of  all 
states ;  to  be  a  judge,  to  the  decisions  of  whose  tribu- 
nal all  the  sovereigns  of  the  earth  must  submit ;  whose 
decrees  are  infallible,  and  admit  of  no  appeal,  because 
those  which  he  pronounces  are  held  to  be  the  decrees 


160  SECRETS    OF 

of  God  himself;  and  those  who  appeal  from  them,  are 
declared  to  be  rebellious  and  refractory,  and  are  de- 
prived of  all  communion  with  the  pious. 

"This  code  has  no  other  end  in  view  than  that  of 
establishing  despotism  and  universal  monarchy  through- 
out the  whole  earth.  All  sovereigns  are  hound  to  yield 
homage  and  obedience  to  that  formidable  monarch ; 
and  if  the  least  opposition  is  exhibited,  rebellions,  wars, 
and  insurrections,  are  the  consequence  ;  while  the  sove- 
reigns, who,  in  defence  of  their  just  rights,  have  had 
the  misfortune  to  offend  this  priest-king,  are  deprived 
at  once  of  their  kingdoms  and  their  lives — a  melan- 
choly prediction  of  the  misfortunes  and  premature 
death  of  Joseph  the  Second  and  Leopold. 

"  A  bold  and  enterprising  militia,"  the  Roman  priests, 
"animated  by  fanaticism,  cupidity,  and  ambition,  bound 
by  vows  and  solemn  oaths,  and  always  ready,  on  the 
slightest  signal  from  that  monarch,  to  whom,  by  the 
rules  of  its  institution,  it  is  called  upon  to  yield  the 
most  blind  and  slavish  obedience,  to  excite  the  storm 
of  rebellion  and  insurrection, — that  militia,  which  is 
spread  over  every  state  in  Christendom,  is  fraught  with 
danger  and  alarm ;  because,  by  taking  advantage  of 
the  superstition  and  ignorance  of  the  people,  whose 
good  opinion  it  has  acquired  by  a  false  character  for 
piety  and  knowledge,  it  is  sufficiently  powerful  to  give 
just  cause  of  dread,  mistrust,  and  jealousy,  to  every 
Government  in  whose  states  it  is  placed. 

"  The  Jesuits,  a  veteran  and  zealous  troop,  have 
obtained  from  this  grateful  monarch  the  most  signal 
rewards  and  privileges:  in  granting  which,  the  people 
have  not  only  been  deeply  injured,  but  their  rights 
have  been  sacrificed,  because  the  Jesuits  have  shown 
themselves  more  anxious  and  careful  than  any  other 
to  extend  the  limits  of  the  new  empire,  and  in  every 
state  have  not  scrupled  to  excite  discord  and  sedition 
for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  and  defending  it.  Even 
in  our  day,  though  nearly  overcome  by  the  repeated 
attacks  which  have  been  made  upon  them,  they  are 
both  terrible  and  formidable  to  the  most  powerful  mo- 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  161 

narchs  of  Christendom,  who  do  not  believe  that  they 
can  be  secure  from  those  just  fears,  suspicions,  and 
jealousies,  with  which  they  have  hitherto  been  ha- 
rassed, until  the  order  be  completely  abolished. 

'•  The  code  of  decretals  was  received  by  Raymond 
de  Pennafort,  without  examination,  judgment,  or  in- 
quiry, in  ages  which  were  darkened  by  superstition 
and  ignorance :  and  was  compiled,  according  to  the 
prejudices  of  these  unhappy  times,  with  no  other  view 
than  that  of  investing  the  spiritual  power  with  an  ab- 
solute, despotic,  and  arbitrary  authority.  All  the  de- 
cretals attributed  to  the  first  three  centuries  of  the 
Church  are  clearly  false ;  while  many  of  those  said  to 
belong  to  succeeding  ages,  have  evidently  been  falsified 
to  suit  and  accommodate  the  new  system  of  Govern- 
ment." 

These  decretals  have  regularly  been  invoked  when- 
ever it  became  necessary  to  employ  a  pretended  de- 
fence of  the  rights  of  God  as  a  pretext  for  invading 
those  belonging  to  Caesar.  These  latter  rights  were, 
however,  recognised  by  our  Savior  himself  in  the  pre- 
sence of  Pilate ;  were  supported  by  the  Apostles  in 
their  preachings ;  respected  by  the  early  saints ;  and 
their  lawfulness  inculcated  by  the  fathers  of  the 
Church.  They  were  exercised  by  the  Emperors  until 
the  eleventh  century  ;  and  if  they  were  at  length  over- 
thrown by  the  wars  between  the  priesthood  and  the 
empire,  and  weakened  by  the  factions  of  the  Guelfs 
and  Ghibelins,  who  stained  with  blood  both  the  Church 
and  the  state,  the  priesthood  alone  is  accountable  for  it 
to  religion  and  humanity. 

'•  To  these  decretals,  and  to  the  unfounded  principles 
of  divine  right,  are  to  be  attributed  the  abuse  which 
was  made  of  the  power  of  the  keys,  as  well  as  the 
doctrine  of  direct  and  indirect  dominion,  which  was 
hatched  to  establish  a  despotism  infinitely  more  abso- 
lute and  horrible  than  was  ever  witnessed  in  any  east- 
ern monarchy.  To  the  same  source  are  to  be  traced 
those  interdicts  which  were  employed  to  excite,  to  aid, 
and  to  justify  the  people  in  rebelling  against,  murder- 

14* 


162  SECRETS    OP 

ing,  deposing,  and  banishing,  their  sovereigns  : — that 
universal  government  of  the  Church  which  deprived 
the  bishops  of  that  authority  which  was  conferred 
upon  them  by  Jesus  Christ,  the  only  supreme  head  and 
shepherd  of  the  Church ;  those  personal  and  real  im- 
munities so  hurtful  and  injurious  to  the  lawful  jurisdic- 
tion of  princes  and  magistrates ;  as  well  as  all  those 
other  monstrous  doctrines  which  have  destroyed  every 
idea  and  principle  of  human  and  divine  right. 

"Gregory  YII.  was  the  author  of  this  new  doctrine, 
and  of  the  differences  which  took  place  between  the 
priesthood  and  the  empire.  Supported  by  the  forces 
and  the  fanaticism  of  the  Countess  Matilda,  he  carried 
on  for  several  years  an  unjust  war  with  the  Emperor 
Henry  IV.,  merely  because  he  would  not  relinquish  his 
rights.  For  these  reasons,  which  ought  to  have  ren- 
dered his  memory  odious  both  to  the  Church  and  to 
the  State,  Gregory  was  placed  on  the  list  of  martyrs, 
as  is  attested  by  the  lessons  in  his  Office,  which  were 
published  in  1728." 

That  Pope  is  praised  in  the  office  alluded  to,  as  the 
one  who,  since  the  time  of  the  Apostles,  has  done  most 
service  to  the  Church,  which  he  governed,  not  accord- 
ing to  human  wisdom,  but  in  accordance  with  the  dic- 
tates of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  author  of  the  memorial 
remaj'ks,  that  the  doctrine  which  he  inculcated  was 
not  that  spirit  of  peace,  of  charity,  of  concord,  of  obe- 
dience and  submission  to  established  authorities,  which 
the  Gospel  recommends  to  the  practice  of  its  disciples. 

Anselm,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  was  also  in- 
serted in  the  catalogue  of  saints,  because  he  taught 
that  the  Pope  had  absolute  authority  over  bishops,  and 
that  the  bishops  were  completely  independent  of  the 
civil  power,  to  which  he  would  not  allow  them  to  take 
the  usual  oath  of  fidelity. 

"  In  our  days  a  Cardinal  found  it  necessary  to  throw 
all  his  influence  and  energy  into  the  scale,  in  order  to 
prevent  Bellarmin,  the  most  ferocious  abettor  and  de- 
fender of  that  anti-christian  doctrine,  from  being  raised 
to  the  rank  of  a  saint.     The  only  title  which  that 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  163 

haughty  prelate  could  possibly  have  to  such  distinc- 
tion, was  this ;  that  he  extended  the  despotism  of  the 
spiritual  power  farther  than  had  been  imagined  before 
his  time,  either  by  human  pride,  by  fanaticism,  or  by 
the  adulatory  spirit  of  his  brethren,  the  Jesuits." 

The  memorial  next  presents  us  with  a  just  and  en- 
ergetic description  of  the  evils  which  were  accumu- 
lated by  the  spiritual  power,  on  the  heads  of  those 
princes  who  were  bold  enough  to  attack  these  absurd 
pretensions ;  and  also  with  a  striking  picture  of  the 
extravagant  proceedings  of  the  successors  of  Grego- 
ry VII.  \ 

'•'Louis  IX.  of  France  was  threatened  by  the  Pope 
with  ah  the  terrors  of  an  interdict,  because,  in  an  as-      i 
sembly  of  the  principal  lords  of  his  kingdom,  he  had      I 
given  orders  that  none  of  his  vassals  should  be  re-      ■ 
sponsible   to   the   ecclesiastical   tribunals    in    matters      i 
purely  civil,  and  that  the  clergy  should  appear  before     | 
the  se'cular  judges  in  all  causes  relating  to  their  fiefs.      | 
A  few  years  afterwards,  the  Pope's  legate  sanctioned      I 
in  a  council,  held  in  France  itself,  the  usurpations  of    / 
the  clergy,  notwithstanding  their  being  so  hurtful  and     " 
injurious  to  the  authority  of  the  sovereign.     The  kings 
and  princes  of  the  earth  had  indeed  good  reason  to 
dread  even  the  sio-ht  of  these  domineering-  ministers  of 
the  spiritual  power ;   for  by  their  mandate,  councils 
were  annually  assembled,  without  the  knowledge  or 
consent  of  the  sovereign,  in  the  very  heart  of  his  do- 
minions, which,  under  the  specious  names  of  the  liber- 
ties and  immunities  of  the  Church,  confirmed  the  des- 
potism  and   independence  of  the  clergy.      In    these 
councils,   war,   peace,    alliances,   trade,    policy,   laws, 
modes  of  government,  judicial  systems,  the  rights  of 
monarcJis — every  thing  was  discussed  and  regulated  , 
according  to  the  views  and  interests  of  these  formida- 
ble monarchs.      Supported   by  that  bold  and  enter- 
prising militia  which  every  where  fomented  war,  dis- 
cord, sedition,  rebellion,  ignorance,  superstition,  and 
fanaticism  among  the  people,  they  were  sure  of  their 


164  SECRETS  OF 

laws  and  commands  being  received  and  respected  by 
every  sovereign  of  Christendom. 

"Rome,  during  those  ages  of  darkness  and  super- 
stition, saw  all  the  sovereigns  of  Christian  states  within 
her  walls  :  some  of  them  imploring  pardon  for  having 
undertaken  a  just  war  in  defence  of  their  most  sacred 
rights ;  others  declaring  themselves  the  vassals  and 
tributaries  of  the  Church  ;  many  receiving  a  preca- 
rious investiture  of  those  states  which  they  had  ob- 
tained either  hy  conquest,  by  consent  of  the  people,  or 
by  inheritance  through  a  long  succession  of  ancestors  ; 
and  all  of  them  obliged  to  submit,  in  full  view  of  the 
people,  to  the  vilest  and  most  humiliating  acts  of 
degradation." 

The  priests,  tliough  called  upon  by  their  profession 
to  be  the  messengers  of  indulgence  and  universal  cha- 
rity, were  only  the  instruments  of  Popes  for  excom- 
municating their  enemies  and  opponents. 

"  In  these  latter  times,  during  which  ignorance  and 
superstition  began  to  be  diminished,  interdicts  have 
become  less  frequent,  notwithstanding  the  attention  of 
the  Popes  to  preserve  and  confirm  in  their  Bulls  that 
sanguinary  and  antichristian  doctrine  to  which  they 
are  indebted  for  their  exorbitant  power.  The  Bulls  of 
Alexander  III.,  of  Boniface  YIII.,  and  Innocent  III., 
cannot  be  perused  without  feeling  the  utmost  horror 
and  indignation.  Paul  IV.,  that  ferocious  and  violent 
Pope,  who  with  so  much  audacity  and  insolence  cited 
before  his  terrible  tribunal  at  Rome,  the  two  Empe- 
rors, Charles  Y.  and  Ferdinand  III.  his  brother,  be- 
cause one  of  them  had  resigned,  and  the  other  accepted 
the  imperial  authority  without  his  consent, — this  Pope, 
in  a  Bull  signed  by  all  his  cardinals,  decreed,  that  in 
future,  every  count,  baron,  marquis,  duke,  king,  or  em- 
peror, who  had  fallen  into  or  should  be  convicted  of, 
heresy  and  schism,  should  be  totally  deprived  of  their 
dominions  ;  that  they  should  be  incapable  of  possessing 
any  in  future  ;  and  that  they  could  never  be  restored 
to  their  former  condition.  Every  action,  however  in- 
nocent, which  did  not  favor  his  system  of  despotism 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  165 

and  universal  monarchy,  was  declared  by  that  Pope  to 
be  heresy.  His  pride  made  him  reject  the  obedience 
which  Ebzabeth  of  England  proffered  to  him,  and  his 
threats  confirmed  that  kingdom  in  its  separation  from 
Rome. 

"  The  interdict  lately  fulminated  against  the  Duke 
of  Parma,  ought  to  awaken  the  dread  and  jealousy, 
formerly  entertained  by  every  sovereign  prince,  of  the 
Court  of  Rome.  Such  a  recent  example  of  the  exer- 
cise of  the  authority  which  she  arrogates  to  herself, 
over  a  meniher  of  a  family  which  holds  the  first  place 
in  Europe  in  point  of  authority^  grandeur^  and  power ^ 
and  in  times  so  critical  and  difficult  for  herself  ought 
to  inspire  every  sovereign  with  a  just  dread,  lest,  taking 
advantage  of  those  opportunities  with  which  more  fa- 
vorable circumstances  may  supply  her,  she  again  at- 
tempt to  put  her  despotic  power  in  force  against  them. 

''  Such  is  the  doctrine  contained  and  taught  in  de- 
cretals— a  doctrine  both  sanguinary  and  seditious — a 
doctrine  which  establishes  the  despotism  of  the  spi- 
ritual power,  and  the  slavery  of  every  sovereign — a 
doctrine  which  foments  the  ambitious  and  independent 
spirit  of  the  clergy,  and  excites  rebellion  among  the 
people  ;  a  doctrine  which  has  caused  and  will  continue 
to  cause  constant  dread,  suspicion,  jealousy,  and  dis- 
trust in  the  bosom  of  every  sovereign.  It  is  one  which 
strikes  at  the  root  of  every  natural  and  divine  right  ; 
a  doctrine  which  overturns  the  most  solid  foundations 
of  human  society,  and  which,  in  bringing  back  the 
times  of  ignorance  and  superstition,  will  renew  those 
scenes  of  discord  which  took  place  between  the  priest- 
hood and  the  empire.  It  is,  moreover,  a  doctrine  which 
must  have  hindered,  and  will  continue  to  impede,  the 
propagation  of  the  Gospel  among  those  heathen  and 
idolatrous  nations  when  they  become  aware  that  there 
is  in  Christianity  a  power  which  can  excite,  at  plea- 
sure, sedition,  war,  and  rebellion  among  the  people ; 
which  foments  and  nourishes  fanaticism  and  supersti- 
tion ;  and  which  has  extended  the  spiritual  empire 
even  beyond  the  limits  of  the  known  world. 


1G6  SECRETS    OF 

"  The  line  of  demaTcation  pointed  out  by  Pope  Alex- 
ander VI.5  who  diso^raced  the  Church  by  so  many 
horrible  crimes  and  such  abandoned  wickedness,  is 
well  known.  In  order  to  prevent  war  and  discord  be- 
tween the  Spanish  and  Portuguese,  he  fixed  the  limits 
within  which  they  might  carry  on  their  conquests  in 
regions  altogether  unknown,  over  which  he  could  have 
no  other  rights  than  those  of  fanaticism  and  universal 
monarchy,  and  the  new  conquerors  none  but  those  ac- 
quired by  force,  by  violence,  and  usurpation.  This 
doctrine  of  the  decretals,  has  more  than  once  obliged 
Christian  princes  to  violate  treaties  which  they  had 
entered  into  with  infidels,  and  confirmed  with  oaths — 
the  strongest  bands  of  human  society ;  and  it  has  en- 
slaved the  church  which  was  free  in  tmies  of  the 
fiercest  persecution.  It  is  a  doctrine  which  was  totally 
unknown  in  those  ages  of  the  Church  most  celebrated 
for  their  piety ;  it  is  a  doctrine  completely  at  variance 
with  the  spirit,  and  with  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel." 

In  continuation  of  what  he  had  said  in  regard  to 
the  false  titles  by  which  the  sacerdotal  power  is  main- 
tained, the  author  of  the  memoir  expresses  himself  m 
the  following  terms :  which  we  copy,  as  even  in  our 
days  these  same  titles  exist,  because  the  ecclesiastical 
authority  shows  a  strong  desire  to  turn  them  to  ac- 
count, and  because  imprudent  Governments  are  labor- 
ing to  procure  it  the  means. 

"  It  was  during  the  eleventh  century  that  those  false 
decretals  were  published,  in  which,  besides  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  clergy,  it  was  distinctly  inculcated 
that  the  orders  of  the  Court  of  Rome,  were  to  be  obey- 
ed every  where,  and  by  every  class  of  persons  without 
delay  or  contradiction,  and  that  no  civil  law  had  any 
force  or  authority  against  its  canons  and  decrees  ;  that 
the  tribunal  of  the  church  is  superior  to  that  of  the  so- 
vereign ;  and  that  the  laws  of  the  state  ought  only  to 
be  obeyed  when  they  are  not  contrary  to  those  of  the 
church.  About  this  period  also  were  falsified  those 
ancient  laws  and  canons  which  militated  against  this 
monstrous  system.     The  clergy  supported   by  these 


FEMALE     CONVENTS.  167 

false  documents,  not  content  with  the  independence 
which  they  had  acquired  by  open  rebeUion,  and  ren- 
dered audacious  by  the  ignorance  and  attachment  of 
the  people,  usurped  a  great  part  of  the  authority  which 
belonged  to  the  magistrates.  After  this  usurpation, 
the  authority  of  sovereigns  was  overthrown  and  demo- 
lished by  means  of  false  documents,  which  taught  the 
superiority  of  the  spiritual  over  the  temporal  power  ; 
that  princes  were  inferior  to  bishops,  and  that  they 
ought  not  to  undertake  or  regulate  any  thing  except 
according  to  their  advice. 

''  Such  was  the  monstrous  system,  so  totally  contra- 
ry to  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  and  before  that  time 
miknown  in  any  age  or  nation,  by  means  of  which 
Gregory  VII.  pretended  that  the  temporal  power  was 
subordinate  to  the  spiritual ;  that  the  Church  alone 
had  the  power  of  conferring  crowns  and  judging  sove- 
reigns, and  that  all  princes  were  vassals  of  the  Court 
of  Rome,  and  ought  to  take  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  her, 
as  well  as  pay  her  an  annual  tribute." 

The  Bishop's  plans  for  religious  reforms  were  put 
in  execution.  Chevalier  Banchieri,  who  was  appoint- 
ed administrator  of  the  estates  belonging  to  the  sup- 
pressed monasteries,  fully  concurred  with  him  in  all 
his  measures,  and  a  manufactory  was  established  for 
the  employment  of  the  poor,  which  soon  acquired  con- 
siderable importance.  Pistoia  has  a  population  of 
eight  thousand  souls.  Ricci  divided  it  into  eight  par- 
ishes each  governed  by  a  cure  or  prior,  who  received 
three  hundred  crowns  a  year,  and  by  four  chaplains, 
who  were  paid  a  hundred  and  forty  crowns.  Having 
thus  united  every  kind  of  church  property  to  the  ec- 
clesiastical patrimony,  which  was  charged  with  the 
payment  of  the  ministers'  salaries,  and  the  expenses  of 
public  worship,  he  severely  forbade  the  priests  from 
receiving  money  from  the  people  on  any  pretext  what- 
ever. They  were  obliged  to  officiate,  to  marry,  bap- 
tize, and  bury  grcetis^  and  the  expenses  of  all  religious 
ceremonies  were  definitively  fixed.  The  number  of 
tapers  put  round  the  dead  was  the  same  for  both  poor 


163  SECRETS    OF 

and  rich  :  and  when  the  sum  appointed  by  the  defunct 
person,  or  his  heirs,  exceeded  the  expense,  the  surplus 
was  devoted  to  purposes  of  charity.  Many  of  the 
clergy  voluntarily  submitted  to  these  ncAv  regulations, 
and  the  Bishop  had  the  satisfaction  of  finding  that  the 
diffusion  of  knowledge  had  begun  to  work  efiects, 
which  he  trusted  could  never  be  destroyed. 

The  Grand  Duke  augmented  the  funds  of  the  eccle- 
siastical patrimony  instituted  by  Ricci,  and  bestowed 
on  it  all  the  wealth  of  the  suppressed  monasteries. 
"These  institutions,"  says  the  Bishop,  "afforded  in 
early  times,  retreats  for  men  wearied  with  the  barbari- 
ties and  vices  of  war.  But  they  have  since  been  made 
the  asylums  only  of  idleness  and  sensuality.  The 
convents  became  intolerable  by  their  numbers,  and 
served  as  places  of  confinement,  where  one  half  of  the 
people  was  condemned  to  celibacy.  Leopold  saw  the 
abuses  which  had  been  introduced;  and  notwithstand- 
ing the  anger  of  the  Papal  Court,  determined  on  effect- 
ing a  reformation.  With  the  riches  of  the  monks  he 
endowed  poor  parishes,  whose  priests  almost  failed  of 
subsistence.  He  founded  new  ones  where  they  were 
wanted.  He  assisted  and  established  hospitals  :  found- 
ed places  of  education,  and  conferred  such  benefits  on 
Tuscany,  that  his  name  deserves  to  be  eternally  com- 
memorated." With  the  powerful  assistance  of  Leopold, 
Ricci  found  no  obstacle  sufficient  to  retard  his  comple- 
tion of  the  seminary  of  Pistoia.  The  edifice  employ- 
ed a  considerable  number  of  hands,  formed  a  new  fea- 
ture in  the  appearance  of  the  town,  encouraged  indus- 
try, and  even  tended  to  the  revival  of  the  Fine  Arts. 
The  petty  intrigues  which  were  sometimes  employed 
against  him,  he  immediately  made  known  to  Leopold, 
and  they  were  as  immediately  stopped  by  the  active 
and  zealous  determination  of  that  Prince. 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  16J 


CHAPTER     VIII. 

Miraculous  Image. — Matrimonial  Dispensations.— Abolition  of  Ecclesi- 
astical Courts. — Diminution  of  Convents. — Attempts  ag-ainst  Ricci. 

Ricci,  having  organized  the  seminary  of  Pistoia, 
extended  his  reforms  to  that  of  Prato  ;  but  though  he 
met  with  great  opposition  on  all  accounts,  tfie  single 
altar  was  what  excited  the  loudest  murmurs,  when- 
ever it  was  proposed.  After  alluding  to  a  pretended 
miraculous  image  of  the  Virgin  in  a  church  at  Arezzo, 
he  says,  that  "  it  served  as  a  pretext  for  pillage,  mas- 
sacres, and  all  kinds  of  impieties,  of  which  the  image 
was  thus  rendered  an  accomplice  ;"  for  which  reason, 
when  he  withdrew  a  similar  imaire  of  the  Virj^in  from 
its  hiding-place  at  Prato,  he  had  it  newly  painted,  that 
it  might  not  deceive  the  people,  as  it  had  foriuerly  done, 
into  errors  and  excesses,  ;^^^ 

Ricci  was  highly  ol!ended  at  the  manner  in  whici 
the  Court  of  Rome  dealt  in  dispensations  of  marriage, 
styling  the  trade  -^  id  fame  bottega,'[/An  infamous  shop. 
He  determined  on  thB'  authority  of  Leopold,  to  gi 
dispensations  in  the  diocess  of  Pistoia  and  Prato  :  his 
diocesans  applied  to  him  instead  of  the  Papal  Court^ 
and  contracted  with  conlidence  any  marriages  which 
he  authorized.  His  dispensations  cost  nothing,  while 
those  of  the  Pope  were  enormously  dear.  In  the 
course  of  five  years  he  granted  three  himdred  and 
seventeen  dispensations.  His  conduct  in  this  was  par- 
ticularly displeasing  to  the  Papal  Court,  though  he 
receiv^ed  pompous  eulogies  from  the  Pope  on  occasion 
of  the  report  he  made  of  the  state  of  his  diocess ;  and 
the  Pontifical  Secretary  of  State,  Cardinal  Pallavicini, 
exhorted  him  strongly  to  hold  a  diocesan  synod.  But 
while  Ricci  was  endeavoring  to  regulate  his  diocess, 
and  watch  over  its  interests,  the  monks  and  nuns  per- 
sisted in  contradicting  him  on  all  points,  and  disobey- 
ing  him  in   matters  which  he  judged  of  the  hiohest 

15 


170  SECRETS    OF 

importance.  They  resumed  acting  plays,  and  dancingX 
in  the  convents  of  the  nnns,  though  he  had  rigorously  1 
forbidden  them,  from  the  period  of  his  becoming  a  / 
bishop. 

The  next  object  of  Ricci  was  to  reduce  the  number 
of  monasteries  in  each  diocess  to  one  or  two,  in  order 
to  subject  them  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  bishops.  But 
this  was  attacking  the  monks  in  their  strong-holds,  and 
the  opposition  he  met  with  from  them  lasted  the  rest 
of  his  life.  They  particularly  did  all  in  their  power  to 
withhold  from  the  knowledge  of  Ricci,  their  plans  of 
cloister  studies,  which,  says  Ricci,  were  composed  of 
''  peripatetic  philosophy  and  tScottism.  taught  in  the 
most  barbarous  Latin."' 

Ricci  had  dispensed  licenses  of  marriage,  &c.  gratis^ 
but  he  could  not  please  all  parties.  A  family  of  mer- 
chants called  Piccioh,  wished  that  the  widow  of  one 
of  them  should  espouse  her  late  husband's  brother,  in 
order  that  the  property  should  be  kept  in  the  family. 
For  this  purpose  they  applied  to  Ricci ;  but  he,  not 
judging  a  dispensation  proper  under  the  circumstance, 
refused  it.  On  this,  the  parties  applied  to  Rome,  where, 
by  dint  of  bribes,  they  obtained  permission  to  marry  ; 
but  as  the  authority  did  not  extend  to  Tuscany,  they 
could  not  be  acknowledged  as  married  persons  there. 
The  Grand  Duke,  moreover,  was  enraged  at  their  ob- 
stinacy, and  exiled  them  from  his  territories.  In  this 
extremity,  they  once  more  addressed  themselves  to 
Ricci,  who,  touched  by  their  submission,  obtained  their 
pardon,  and  married  them  anew.  He  was  always  open 
to  the  petitions  of  those  who  demanded  to  be  freed 
from  such  religious  vows  as  they  had  taken  while 
under  age ;  and  both  male  and  female  religious  persons 
found  in  him  an  advocate  in  such  cases  for  their  secu- 
larization. 

The  reforms  of  Ricci  met  with  the  most  determined 
opposition  ;  but  he  waited  with  patience  for  the  time 
when  men  should  become  enlio^hteiied,  and  endeavored 
to  hasten  that  time,  by  furnishing  his  diocesans  with 
good  books.     He  sent  the  curates  copies  of  them,  per- 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  171 

suaded  that  the  taste  for  their  perusal  would  spread 
from  them  among  their  parishioners.  The  peasants  ^ 
used  to  purchase  those  books,  to  read  them  in  the  eve- 
ning to  their  families;  and  in  order  to  propagate  this 
taste,  the  Grand  Duke  banished  all  the  hawkers  of  tlie 
printed  indulgences  of  the  Court  of  Rome. 

Among  other  projects  of  Ricci,  was  that  of  the  abo- 
lition of  the  htigious  and  contentious  Ecclesiastical 
Courts  ;  but  though  he  failed,  he  succeeded  in  reform- 
ing their  practice.  He  endeavored,  but  in  vain,  to  have 
the  bishops  and  other  high  functionaries  of  the  Church 
paid  by  salaries,  like  the  inferior  orders  of  the  clergy, 
as  being  the  only  means  of  preventing  the  property  of 
the  Church  from  being  wasted  or  expended  by  a  prodi- 
gal predecessor.  The  progress  of  the  French  revolu- 
tion, however,  absorbed  all  the  attention  of  Leopold ; 
and  the  constant  opposition  of  the  bishops  to  the  mea- 
sure prevented  the  meritorious  designs  of  Ricci  from 
being  carried  into  execution. 

The  Dominicans  of  Maria  Novella  at  Florence,  in 
the  mean  time,  neglected  nothing  to  recover  a  portion 
of  the  influence  they  had  lost  in  Pistoia.  Ricci  opposed 
them,  and  was  seconded  by  the  Grand  Duke,  who,  by 
an  edict,  abolished  for  ever  the  lotteries  for  giving 
dowries  to  girls,  on  .occasion  of  the  various  festivals, 
accompanied  by  the  promise  of  indulgences  as  exces- 
sive as  they  were  scandalous  and  absurd,  by  which 
large  sums  were  gained,  especially  in  the  country. 
The  laws  which  existed  against  the  begging  clergy  in 
Tuscany,  had  not  been  observed.  Ricci  now  enforced 
their  execution  ;  employed  the  money  which  had  till 
then  been  spent  in  dowries,  in  a  wiser  manner ;  and 
instituted  conservatories  for  women,  who  were  to  be 
brought  up  from  the  age  of  eight  to  twenty-four,  with 
the  view  of  becoming  industrious  and  good  wives. 
At  the  latter  age,  however,  they  were  obliged  to  leave 
the  institution,  lest,  as  Ricci  apprehended,  such  places 
shonld  grow  into  real  nunneries,  through  the  bigotry 
of  the  elder  members. 

In  1785,  the  Secretary  Seratti  was  created  Counsel- 


172  SECRETS    OF 

lor  of  State.  He  opposed  all  the  plans  of  Ricci.  in 
which  he  was  warmly  seconded  by  the  Civil  Lieuten- 
ant of  Pistoia.  This  opposition  obliged  Ricci  to  look 
for  a  co-operator  with  him  in  his  beneficent  projects. 
He  thought  of  Martini,  Secretary  for  the  Rights  of  the 
Crown  ;  and  in  the  hope  of  rendering  him  an  all^r,  he 
showed  more  respect  for  Martini  than  he  deserved. 
He  seemed  at  first  to  have  succeeded.  Martini  required 
of  the  bishops  an  account  of  their  revenues,  but  they 
either  refused  to  answer,  lest  they  should  lose  the 
Pope's  favor,  or  they  replied  that  their  diocesses  were 
poor,  and  destitute  of  the  resources  with  which  Pistoia 
and  Prato  abounded.  Ricci  unveiled  the  falsehood 
of  these  assertions,  pointed  out  the  real  sources  of  the 
wealth  of  the  clerg^y,  and  recommended  a  more  equal 
distribution  of  it. 

Ricci  gives  us  an  account  of  his  vigilant  attention  to 
the  plan  of  studies  pursued  by  the  monks  of  Giac- 
cherino,  the  only  place  of  study  which  the  regulars  had 
in  his  diocess.  The  monks  opposed  all  his  plans  of 
improvement,  in  which  they  were  supported  by  the 
practice  of  the  other  bishops :  for  though  Ricci  drew 
up  a  list  of  the  books  which  he  wished  to  be  employed 
in  the  instruction  of  the  youth  of  his  diocess,  he  was 
the  only  bishop  who  took  any  vigorous  or  decided 
measures.  The  Grand  Duke  did  not  think  proper  to 
pass  any  general  law  on  the  subject :  so  that  Ricci 
only  gained  by  his  projects  the  reputation  of  an  eiitJiv- 
siast,  and  an  enemy  to  the  Court  of  Rome.  He  was, 
however,  unmoved  by  these  clamors  ;  and,  in  order  to 
overcome  the  bishops'  resistance  to  the  reforms  of  Leo- 
pold, which  he  thought  had  its  source  in  their  fidelity 
to  their  oath  of  consecration,  he  addressed  himself  to 
Seratti  on  the  subject.  The  affair,  however,  dropped, 
and  no  measures  were  taken  to  remedy  the  existing 
evils. 

The  Bishop  made  a  new  attempt  by  sending  to  Leo- 
pold some  original  document  proving  thr^t  the  Court  of 
Rome  abused  the  power  which  the  oath  taken  by  the 
bishops   gave  it,  by  "obliging   them   to   resist   their 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  173 

sovereigns,"  says  Ricci,  "whenever  they  touch  upon 
the  false  rights  of  the  pretended  Papal  monarchy." 
Leopold's  reforms  were  not  intended  to  intrench  upon 
the  Pope's  rights  ;  but  he  did  not  go  to  the  root  of  the 
evil  in  all  cases.  One  of  the  most  grievous  disorders 
lay  in  "  cases  of  conscience,"  of  which  the  bishops  had 
reserved  for  their  own  decision  a  great  number, — and 
in  which  they  alone  had  the  power  of  absohition. 
"  They  have  become  the  slaves,  instead  of  the  brothers 
of  the  Pope  ;  and  usurp  the  rights  of  the  priests  and 
curates,  as  Rome  has  usurped  theirs,  by  despoiling 
them  of  their  natural  and  legitimate  authority." 

It  was  with  the  utmost  delicacy  towards  the  bishops 
that  Leopold  attacked  this  abuse ;  but  he  was  not 
obeyed  in  the  greater  part  of  the  diocesses,  or  for  any 
length  of  time.  All  the  bishops  were  opposed  to  him, 
and  their  advisers  still  more  so.  Ricci  gives  us  the 
character  of  the  latter.  "  They  were,"  says  he,  '•  some 
ignorant  advocate,  invested  with  the  character  of 
chancellor,  or  a  serving  priest,  without  any  knowledge 
of  ecclesiastical  affairs,  and  puifed  up  with  their  Roman 
vanity."  The  reserved  cases  of  conscience,  which 
were  generally  indecent  or  absurd^  were  decided  on, 
not  by  a  synod,  but  arbitrarily ;  and  these  continued 
to  exist  as  before. 

The  list  of  excommunications  and  cases  still  actua,lly 
reserved  for  the  decision  of  the  Archbishop  of  Pisa, 
who  can  alone  grant  absolution  for  them,  contains  the 
common  absurdity  of  confounding  indecencies  and 
real  crimes  with  actions  indifferent  in  themselves. 
The  eating  of  meat  on  days  prohibited  by  the  Church, 
and  other  offences  against  its  particular  ordinances, 
are  placed  upon  a  level  with  the  worst  crimes  of  which 
men  can  be  guilty,  such  as  seduction  and  rape,  bearing 
false  witness,  and  wilful  murder. 

It  moreover  contains  an  absurdity  peculiar  to  itself 
— that  of  having  classed  with  forgers  and  assassins, 
"  those  who  fell  trees  in  the  forests  of  the  archiepiscopal 
menscB,  called  Tombolo,  Tomboletto,  Poggio  a  Padule, 
and  other  farms  in  Migliarino,  without  the  permission 
15* 


174  SECRETS    OF 

of  the  Archbishop,  or  of  his  procurator."  These  ex- 
communications and  reserved  cases  are  printed  at  Pisa, 
at  the  Archbishop's  press,  by  Rainier  Prosperi,  with 
permission  of  the  Superiors.  Tliese  reserved  cases 
differ  in  each  diocess.  A  most  revolting  crime  has 
never  been  pronounced  more  than  a  misdemeanor  at 
Florence.  At  Fiesole,  which  is  situated  at  the  gates 
of  that  city,  it  becomes  a  reserved  case,  and  has  been 
there  distinguished,  by  the  compiler  of  the  catalogue 
of  these  exorbitant  sins,  into  a  crime  proper,  and  a 
crime  improper. 

The  person  who  carried  this  senseless  absurdity  in 
the  distinction  of  these  reserved  cases  to  the  greatest 
length,  was  one  of  the  last  of  the  Stuarts,  Cardinal 
Henry  York,  Vice-chancellor  of  the  Roman  Church, 
and  Bishop  of  Tusculum,  Frascati.  In  a  diocesan 
synod,  which  he  held  in  1763,  assisted  by  a  Jesuit  as 
manager,  the  acts  of  which  synod  he  published  at 
Rome,  the  following  year,  with  the  approbation  of  the 
Pontifical  Government,  he  specified  in  the  most  offen- 
sive and  absurd  manner  every  species  of  unnatural 
crime  as  requiring  his  special  and  personal  absolution. 

We  give  the  Latin  title  of  the  singular  book  which 
contains  these  ridiculous  abominations,  and  which  we 
also  preserve  in  the  original  for  the  sake  of  decency. 

"Appendix  ad  Tusculanam  S^modum  a  celsitudine 
regia  eminentissima  Henrici  episcopi  Tusculani,  S.  R. 
E.  vice-cancellarii,  Cardinalis  Ducis  Eboracensis,  in 
Tuscuiano  cathedrali  templo  apostolorum  principis  S. 
Petri  celebratam,  diebus  viii.  ix.  et  x.  Septembris,  A.  D, 
MDCc]>xiii.  Excudebat  Romse  Generosus  Salamoni, 
anno  1764,  superioribus  annuentibus." 

Num.  12,  cap.  10,  art.  9,  §  9. — "Casus  quorum  ab- 
solutionem  sibi  reservat  regia  celsitudo  eminentissima 
dominus  Cardinalis  Dux  Eboracensis  episcopus  Tus- 
culanis.*' 

The  Grand  Duke,  desirous  that  the  women  who 
devoted  themselves  to  a  monastic  life,  should  at  least 
be  aware  of  what  they  were  about,  ordained  that  the 
mmimiim  of  the  age  for  pronouncing  the  vows  should 


FEMALE  CONVENTS.  175 

be  twenty-two.  He  also  forbade  the  practice  of  asking 
or  receiving  dowries  with  the  nuns ;  but  in  order  to 
prevent  that  regulation  from  having  the  eifect  of 
crowding  the  nunneries,  he  directed  that  the  parents  of 
each  nun  should  pay,  according  to  their  ability,  some 
considerable  sum  to  the  Hospital  of  the  place.  He 
allowed  those  who  entered  his  conservatories  to  choose, 
within  a  certain  time,  between  an  ordinary  and  a 
cloistered  life ;  if  they  chose  the  latter,  they  were 
bound  to  devote  themselves  to  the  instruction  of  poor 
girls  in  some  manual  work,  and  in  the  Christian  doc- 
trines. His  aim,  moreover,  was  to  augment  the  num- 
ber of  good  housewives  and  mothers  in  his  states,  and 
to  diminish  that  of  '•Hhe  unfortunate  victims  of  a 
forced  celihacyP 

Ricci  endeavored  to  diminish  the  number  of  con- 
vents, and  proved  to  the  Nuncio  Crivelli,  who  opposed 
him,  that  Florence  held  within  its  walls  more  convents 
than  Rome  itself,  though  the  population  of  the  former 
was  not  much  more  than  half  that  of  the  capital  of 
Catholicism.  He  maintained  that  the  multitude  of 
convents  tended  only  to  render  some  persons  rich  at 
the  expense  of  the  unhappy  nuns  ;  and  he  proved, 
through  the  examination  of  some  of  them  by  confi- 
dential priests,  that  they  were  generally  ignorant  of 
their  duties  and  the  force  of  their  vows,  "  which  they 
observed  judaicallyP 

The  greater  number  of  the  convents  was  converted 
into  conservatories  ;  and  their  reformation  was  of  infi- 
nite service  to  Tuscany  in  general,  by  the  instruction 
they  spread  among  the  poor,  and  by  giving  birth  to 
hospitals  and  other  charities.  The  convent  of  Marcel, 
however,  was  the  only  one  which  fully  conformed  to 
Leopold's  wishes  ;  and  in  return  for  spreading  so  much 
good  around  it,  it  was  persecuted  by  the  successors  of 
Ricci,  and  "the  nuns  were  accused  of  being  as  proud 
as  so  many  Lucifers." 

The  enemies  of  Ricci  were  not  yet  weary  of  perse- 
cuting him.  They  ordered  him  to  furnish  the  sum  of 
12.000  crowns  to  the  diocess  of  Pisa.     But  this  endea- 


176  SECRETS    OF 

vor  to  entrap  him  was  eluded,  by  his  addressing  him- 
self to  the  Grand  Duke,  to  whom  he  proved  how  in- 
consistently his  enemies  acted,  in  accusing  him  at  one 
moment  of  wasting  his  ecclesiastical  patrimony  in  new 
buildings,  and  coming  upon  him  the  next  with  de- 
mands to  cover  expenses  with  which  he  had  nothing 
to  do.  Leopold  ordered  the  Archbishop  of  Pisa  to  look 
elsewhere  for  the  money  he  required,  and  never  to 
think  of  making  tise  of  any  sum  belonging  to  Ricci 
without  his  formal  consent.  New  force  was  added  to 
the  malice  of  his  enemies  by  a  report,  which  was  in- 
dustriously spread  by  the  Pope,  that  a  synod  of  Cardi- 
nals was  assembled  at  Rome  to  judge  of  the  conduct 
and  doctrines  of  Ricci :  which  had  the  double  effect  of 
destroying  any  inclination  in  the  other  bishops  to  fol- 
low his  example,  and  of  exciting  still  farther  the  irri- 
tation against  the  Emperor  Joseph,  which  had  been 
already  powerfully  awakened  by  the  monks. 

Ricci  speedily  experienced  the  effects  of  the  enmity 
of  his  adversaries,  when  he  wished  to  free  the  property 
of  his  diocesans  from  the  obligation  of  paying  for 
masses  and  other  religious  ceremonies,  which  had  de- 
'generated  into  a  traffic.  For  this  purpose,  he  pub- 
lished and  circulated  tracts  relative  to  the  sacrifice  of 
the  mass,  and  some  writings  proving  the  justice  and 
ability  of  Leopold's  measures,  as  they  regarded  eccle- 
siastical matters.  The  Grand  Duke  seconded  his 
Bishop's  endeavors  to  cause  the  money,  which  was 
employed  in  masses,  to  be  used  for  the  poor,  and  the 
education  and  maintenance  of  their  children  :  and  the 
good  to  which  this  led,  encouraged  Leopold  to  attempt 
the  suppression  of  all  benefices  which  were  in  the 
hands  of  certain  families  for  the  benefit  ot  the  younger 
members,  and  who  made  them  sinecures,  paying 
strangers  for  services  rendered  not  to  the  Church,  but 
to  themselves. 

But  the  good  intentions  of  the  Grand  Duke  on  this 
head  were  rendered  vain,  by  want  of  co-operation  in 
the  bishops,  who  were,  for  the  greater  part,  violently 
opposed  to  all  innov^ation  in  matters  ecclesiastic  :  the 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  177 

rest  remained  neuter,  contenting  themselves  with  not 
opposing  or  obstructing  the  intentions  of  the  Prince. 

The  next  step  of  Leopold  Avas  to  order  all  the  bishops 
"to  hold  a  diocesan  synod  at  least  once  in  two  years, 
conjointly  with  the  curates,  in  order  to  examine  into 
the  abuses  in  discipline,  and  to  apply  the  necessary 
remedies." 


CHAPTER     IX. 

Formation  of  new  Parishes. — Results  of  this  measure  in  reg-ard  to  the 
inhabitants  of  La  Montag-na. — r^etter  of  the  Grand  Duke. — Ecclesias- 
tioal  Synods. — Riots  at  Frato.— Retirement  of  Ricci.— Letters. 

After  Leopold  had  succeeded  in  removing  some 
useless  or  hurtful  members  of  the  clergy,  he  wished  to 
augment  the  number  of  those  whose  labors,  he  thought, 
would  instruct  the  people.  For  this  purpose,  he  created 
new  parishes  wherever  it  was  probable  that  the  pre- 
sence of  the  curate  would  improve  civilization.  The 
suppressions  which  he  made  had  been  blamed  by  his 
ministers  as  irreligious  ;  his  additions  were  blamed  as 
impolitic.  -'•  The  jieople^  said  they,  "  are  the  better 
for  being  ignorant  o  ^natters  of  religion— a  bishoj) 
or  priest,  who  shoula  be  appointed  to  bless  a  nation 
from  the  top  of  a  tovj^7    is  equal  to  all  their  wants' 

The  inhabitants  of  L.a  Montagu  a  were  deeply  in 
want  of  curates,  who  should  not  only  act  the  part  of 
faithful  pastors,  but  also  that  of  heads  of  families, 
when  the  men  were  gone  to  work  at  the  Maremma. 
This  Ricci  signified  to  Leopold  :  his  jolan  was  ap- 
proved, and  immediately  acted  upon. 

On  this  occasion,  Ricci  relates  an  adventure  he  met 
with  in  the  course  of  this  diocesan  visit,  undertaken 
in  order  to  gain  information  for  the  Grand  Duke. 
Some  of  his  enemies  had  caused  to  be  dug  in  the  stony 
and  narrow  roads  of  La  Montagna  a  deep  pit,  which 


178  SECRETS    OF 

was  covered  with  leaves,  into  which  it  was  hoped  Ricci 
and  his  horse  would  fall  and  perish  there.  The  curate 
of  the  place  had  discovered  this,  by  means  of  confes- 
sion, and  hastened  to  inform  the  prelate's  secretary, 
who  communicated  the  fact  to  the  magistrate.  The 
latter  removed  the  danger,  and  Ricci,  finding  the  road 
in  good  condition,  suspected  nothing ;  nor  was  he  in- 
formed of  this  attempt  on  his  life,  till  several  months 
afterwards. 

How  necessary  it  was  to  have  priests  residing  at  La 
Montagna,  may  be  guessed  from  the  fact,  that  the  roads 
are  so  bad  in  winter,  that  twenty-three  families,  forming 
a  whole  village,  lived  six  months  of  the  year  without 
priests  or  sacraments,  until  it  was  changed  into  a 
curacy.  The  priest  of  the  next  parish  had,  till  then, 
been  accustomed  to  ofliciate  till  the  month  of  Septem- 
ber, and  then  to  bid  them  adieu  till  the  next  Sprii]g. 

Ricci's  plan,  and  his  zealous  execution  of  it,  pleased 
the  Duke  so  much,  that  he  invited  the  Bishop  to  din- 
ner at  his  villa,  with  his  sister  the  Queen  of  Naples, 
and  King  Ferdinand,  then  in  Tuscan^r,  to  whom  he 
related  all  the  good  that  Ricci  had  done  in  his  diocess, 
particularly  in  the  Mountain  of  Pistoia  :  to  which  Fer- 
ditiand  listened  with  attention  and  interest,  and  ex- 
pressed a  wish  to  introduce  similar  improvements  into 
his  own  States. 

The  visit  of  these  royal  persons,  and  Leopold's  ill 
health,  seemed  to  give  the  ministry  a  good  opportunity 
of  destroying  Ricci's  plans  relative  to  La  Montagna ; 
but  their  attempts  to  prejudice  Leopold  against  him 
were  vain.  The  ministers  were  provoked  to  find 
Ricci's  plans  succeed  so  easily,  after  they  had  pro- 
nounced them  impracticable ;  and  the  other  Tuscan 
bishops  were  puzzled  how  to  proceed.  They  ventured 
not  to  follow  the  example  of  Ricci,  lest  they  should 
make  enemies  of  Rome  and  the  monks  ;  and  they 
hated  him  the  more,  because  he  was  so  disinterested 
as  to  provoke  perpetual  comparisons  with  them,  greatly 
to  their  disadvantage. 

Ricci  was  indignant  at  the  Tuscan  bishops  for  their 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  179 

meanness  in  compelling  the  priests,  at  whose  houses 
they  lived  while  visiting  their  diocesses,  to  entertain 
them  magnificently,  and  to  make  presents  to  their  sec- 
retaries, 6cc.,  to  their  own  ruin.  He  proved  to  the 
Grand  Duke,  who  was  displeased  already  at  this 
splendor,  which  by  rendering  the  prelates  inaccessible, 
made  their  pastoral  visits  useless — that  these  visits 
ought  to  be  held  at  the  expense  of  the  prelates  them- 
selves, and  that,  made  as  they  ought  to  be,  they  ought 
not  to  exceed  one  hundred  crowns  a  year — a  sum 
which  every  bishop  was  in  a  condition  to  pay. 

Ricci's  principal  aim  was  uniformly  the  reformation 
of  his  own  diocess  ;  and  having  remarked  that  the  re 
ligious  ceremonies  performed  during  the  night,  gave 
rise  to  numerous  disorders,  he  forbade  them,  under 
severe  penalties,  during  the  entire  week  preceding 
Christmas. 

In  the  year  1786,  the  Grand  Duke,  satisfied  with 
Ricci's  examination  of  Mancini's  letter,  submitted  to 
him  a  circular,  which  he  intended  to  address  to  all  the 
Tuscan  bishops,  proposing  to  them  several  questions 
on  ecclesiastical  points,  requesting  them  to  reflect  ma- 
turely on  them  before  sending  him  their  answers. 
Ricci  altered  and  retrenched  it  as  he  thought  best ; 
but  his  corrections  arrived  too  late,  and  the  greater 
part  of  them  could  not  be  adopted.  At  the  assembly 
of  the  Tuscan  bishops  at  Florence,  nevertheless,  it  was 
publicly  said  that  Ricci  was  the  author  of  the  Points, 
in  order  that  they  might  be  the  more  odious  to  the 
clergy.  The  Grand  Duke  granted  six  months'  delay 
for  answering  these  questions,  declaring  it  to  be  his 
intention  to  submit  them  to  the  national  council,  and 
to  obtain  a  perfect  unity  in  doctrinal  matters. 

The  Court  of  Rome,  at  this  time,  absolutely  dictated 
the  answers  which  the  bishops  were  to  make  to  their 
Government.  It  had  always  done  so,  as  Ricci  had 
proved  to  Leopold,  urging  the  obedience  which  the 
bishops  owed  to  the  Pope,  and  to  none  else. 

The  reforms  which  Ricci  wished  to  introduce  into 
the  church,  were  constantly  opposed  by  the  ministry. 


180  SECRETS    OF 

in  spite  of  the  support  of  Leopold,  whose  weakness 
was  as  remarkable  as  his  benevolence.  The  bishops 
and  the  Court  of  Rome  lent  their  powerful  aid  to  his 
enemies,  and  his  plans  relative  to  education  were  per- 
petually frustrated  by  the  monks.  "  Slander  and  cal- 
umny," says  he,  "  the  usual  arms  of  Rome,  were  put 
in  action  to  overwhelm  me."  He  was  accused  of  hav- 
ing turned  to  his  own  profit  the  property  of  the  sup- 
pressed convents — of  having  destroyed  relic-worship — 
of  having  profaned  images — of  having  falsified  pray- 
ers, <fec.  Pretended  priests  of  his  diocess  were  sent  to 
Rome  to  beof  advice  asfainst  the  dansferous  errors  of 
their  Bishop,  (fee.  One  of  the  canons  of  Pistoia  wrote 
a  defence  of  all  the  pretensions  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 
But  though  these  things  were  knov/n  to  Leopold,  he 
only  punished  the  secondary  actors  in  them,  and  never 
the  principal.  Rome  had  now  begun  the  war  which 
she  meant  to  carry  on  against  Rlcci  and  his  synod — 
the  convocation  of  which  she  dreaded  above  all 
things. 

The  Synod  assembled  in  September,  1786.  The 
celebrated  Professor  Tamburmi,of  Pavia,  and  Palmieri, 
who  were  to  arrange  the  subjects  of  discussion,  with 
several  others  distinguished  for  tlieir  talents,  were  pre- 
sent. Ricci  endeavored  to  give  his  council  all  the 
solemnity  possible,  and  the  utmost  conformity  with  the 
iTiost  celebrated  synods.  The  clergy  of  Pistoia  had 
already  agreed  on  the  points  to  be  discussed,  and  were 
prepared  to  pass  into  a  law  what-was  already  believed 
and  professed.  The  council  was  held  in  the  Church 
of  Leopold,  and  consisted  of  234  members.  Ricci  had 
not  acquainted  the  Pope  with  any  thing  relative  to  his 
diocesan  synod  ;  but,  as  he  had  signified  his  intention 
of  holding  one,  it  would  certainly  have  been  much 
more  honorable  in  Pius  VL  to  have  then  declared  his 
displeasure,  than  to  undermine  him.  and  after  the 
death  of  his  protector,  Leopold,  to  persecute  him  vio- 
lently. 

The  council  opened  with  the  recitation  of  Pius  the 
Fourth's  Confession  of  Faith.     Some  of  the  members 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  181 

refused  to  sign  the  opinions  of  the  council  on  grace, 
predestination,  &c. ;  and  at  the  head  of  the  opposition 
was  a  canon,  an  emissary  of  the  Court  of  Rome.  The 
matter  most  debated  was  that  of  the  civil  contract  of 
marriage,  which  it  was  necessary  to  distinguish  from 
the  sacrament  and  the  nuptial  benediction  ]  and  the 
Duke  was  applied  to  for  his  decision  on  it  as  a  civil 
act. 

Leopold  was  delighted  with  the  labors  of  his  council. 
He  encouraged  the  members  by  his  letters;  and  having 
learned  that  Rome  was  making  efforts  and  intrigues  to 
disturb  the  assembly,  and  sow  discord  among  its  mem- 
bers, he  took  the  necessary  measures  of  precaution 
against  them.  The  nobility  of  Pistoia,  however,  were 
opposed  to  the  council,  which  was  denounced  at  Rome 
as  a  conspiracy,  and  Ricci  was  defamed  in  numberless 
libels. 

About  this  time  arrived  the  answers  to  the  fifty-seven 
questions  which  had  been  propounded  by  the  Grand 
Duke  to  the  Tuscan  bishops.  They  were  suiFiciently 
contradictory,  but  they  showed  a  wish  to  satisfy  the 
Prince.  Leopold  was  deceived  by  their  apparent  readi- 
ness; and  wishing  to  carry  the  same  perfect  unanimity 
of  sentiment  into  the  details,  as  he  thought  he  saw  in 
the  principal  views,  he  determined  on  convoking  a 
general  council  at  Florence,  which  he  believed  was  to 
put  an  end  to  the  intrigues  of  Rome.  Ricci  endeavor- 
ed to  persuade  the  Duke  that  this  meeting  would  have 
fatal  consequences,  especially  if  it  took  place  in  the 
capital. 

The  enemies  of  Ricci  had  already  obtained  the  sup- 
pression of  the  acts  of  his  synod  until  after  the  close 
of  that  of  Florence.  Having  succeeded  in  this,  they 
whispered  that  the  publication  of  them  had  been  for- 
bidden by  the  Government,  and  the  Grand  Duke  him- 
self The  Bishop  of  Pistoia,  hearing  of  this,  urged 
Leopold  to  change  his  resolution,  and  to  allow  the 
acts  of  the  assembly  to  appear,  as  his  best  protection 
against  the  intrigues  of  Rome  and  the  calumnies  of  its 
creatures. 

16 


182  SECRETS    OF 

Leopold  objected  to  this,  that  it  was  reported  that  the 
acts  themselves  were  to  be  severely  examined  in  an 
assembly  of  Cardinals  ;  therefore,  fearing  their  publi- 
cation would  only  serve  as  a  pretext  for  farther  opposi- 
tion, he  contented  himself  v/ith  writing  a  letter  to  Ricci, 
expressive  of  his  entire  satisfaction,  and  his  approba- 
tion of  his  synod. 

The  council  of  Florence  was  convoked,  by  order  of 
the  Grand  Duke,  in  April,  1787.  From  the  very  be- 
ginning of  its  sittings,  the  bishops  imposed  silence  on 
the  Duke's  theologians,  by  saying,  Nos  9nagistri,  vos 
discipuli:  "  We  are  the  masters,  ye  are  hut  the  scho- 
lars^  They  engaged  the  assistance  of  the  advocate 
Lampredi,  a  man  of  talents  luid  eloquence;  and  believ- 
ing themselves  wholly  assembled  for  the  purpose  of 
deciding  on  the  fate  of  Ricci,  his  synod,  and  his  re- 
forms, they  soon  changed  the  council  into  a  mere  con- 
spiracy against  the  la.tter,  and  all  innovation  whatever. 

All  this  opposition  did  not  discourage  Ricci.  His 
enemies  had,  therefore,  but  one  expedient  left ;  this 
was  to  excite  the  people  to  a  riot,  and,  by  intimidating 
the  Grand  Duke,  remove  Ricci's  principal  support. 

At  Pistoia  it  soon  became  known  that  the  great  body 
of  the  bishops  were  decidedly  opposed  to  the  reforms 
of  Ricci.  Several  curates  petitioned  the  Secretary  to 
the  Crown,  and  their  metropolitan,  the  Archbishop  of 
Florence,  to  abolisli  the  innovations  made  at  Pistoia 
and  Prato,  and  to  restore  every  thing  on  its  former 
footing.  The  Archbishop  Martini,  and  the  Secretary 
of  the  same  name,  were  the  principal  movers  in  this 
plot ;  but  as  the  Grand  Duke  opposed  these  plans,  they 
found  that  a  revolt  would  be  the  only  method  likely  to 
produce  the  destruction  of  reform  in  Tuscany. 

At  that  time  the  question  of  the  worship  of  images, 
<fcc.  was  in  agitation  at  Florence.  Ricci  was  said,  by 
his  enemies,  to  entertain  erroneous  ideas  on  that  head  ; 
and  it  was  whispered  that  he  intended  to  pull  down 
the  altar  where  the  Girdle  of  the  Yirgin  was  preserved, 
and  to  attempt  other  innovations  equally  dreaded  by 
the  people. 


FEMALE     CONVENTS.  18S 

It  had  been  intimated  to  the  Grand  Duke  that  his 
support  of  Ricci  and  his  reforms  might  have  fatal 
political  consequences  ;  but  he  refused  to  yield,  and 
the  riots  were  resolved  upon.  On  the  20th  of  May,  the 
tumult  of  Prato  took  place.  In  the  evening,  the  mob, 
armed  with  sticks  and  hatchets,  proceeded  to  the  prin- 
cipal church  to  prevent  the  demolition  of  the  Altar  of 
the  Girdle.  They  mounted  the  tower,  rang  the  alarm- 
bell  for  several  hours,  tore  down  the  Bishop's  chair  and 
arms,  and  burnt  them  in  the  market  place,  with  seve- 
ral books  which  they  found.  The  church  was  illumin- 
ated during  the  night,  by  order  of  the  rioters,  and  the 
Holy  Girdle  was  exposed  to  the  reverence  of  the 
devout. 

From  the  church  they  proceeded  to  the  spot  where 
the  images  were  placed,  which  had  been  removed  from 
the  suppressed  monasteries,  and  carried  them  in  pro- 
cession to  the  cathedral,  holding  in  one  hand  a  torch, 
and  in  the  other  a  bottle  of  wine.  They  paid  the  same 
honors  to  the  saints  whose  worship  Ricci  had  abolished, 
and  tore  from  the  missal  the  masses  for  those  whose 
worship  he  had  introduced,  which  they  burnt,  together 
with  the  books  he  had  distributed  among  his  clergy. 
They  pulled  down  the  new  baptisteries — threatened 
the  heads  of  the  seminary  and  the  curates  who  were 
known  to  favor  Ricci — made  the  priests  get  out  of 
their  beds  and  accompany  them  in  their  shirts  to  the 
different  churches,  to  replace  before  the  images  the  little 
curtains  which  Ricci  had  removed.  The  churches 
were  soon  all  lighted  up  like  the  cathedral,  and  each 
went  to  pray  or  sing  in  them,  as  he  pleased. 

The  next  morning  all  the  peasants  of  the  neighbor- 
hood arrived  in  the  town,  and  ran  from  church  to 
church,  to  pay  their  devotions  to  the  images  of  the 
suppressed  saints,  and  the  images  which,  now  that 
they  were  covered  with  a  veil,  had  become,  in  their 
eyes,  far  more  respectable.  Pistoia  would  soon  have 
followed  the  example  of  Prato,  had  not  Leopold  sent  a 
detachment  of  soldiers  from  Florence,  who  soon  re- 
stored order.     The  gates  of  Prato  were   closed,  the 


1S4  SECRETS    OF 

Streets  barricadoed,  the  houses  and  shops  shut,  and  a 
number  of  persons  were  arrested  and  sent  to  the  capi- 
taL  The  Grand  Duke  gave  orders  that  every  thing 
should  be  restored  to  the  footing  on  which  it  was  be- 
fore the  revolt. 

On  hearing  this  distressing  news,  Ricci  was  deeply 
grieved.  Nevertheless,  he  went  to  the  assembly  of  the 
bishops,  where,  though  he  was  warmly  received  by  the 
few  partisans  and  friends  he  had,  he  was  greeted  only 
with  insulting  murmurs  by  the  bishops,  his  adversaries, 
who  did  not  even  speak  to  him. 

Prato  had  now  returned  to  a  sense  of  its  evil  con- 
duct. The  town  and  the  clergy  sent  a  deputation  to 
Leopold,  who  received  them  with  kindness,  stating, 
that  he  knew  the  root  of  the  evil  existed  in  Florence 
itself,  though  the  revolt  had  been  fomented  by  evil- 
designing  priests  at  Prato  ;  that  this  formed  only  a 
part  of  a  general  rising,  which  had  failed  in  conse- 
quence of  their  declaring  themselves  too  soon  ;  and 
that  Rome  was  mainly  interested  in  the  affair,  and  was 
in  the  confidence  of  the  conspirators. 

But  it  was  only  in  consequence  of  the  reiterated 
requests  of  Ricci  that  the  Grand  Duke  consented  to 
forgive  his  undatiful  subjects.  The  Bishop  not  only 
obtained  the  liberation  of  the  chief  actors  in  the  revolt, 
but  at  his  own  expense  supported  the  families  of  those 
of  the  poorer  classes  who  were  imprisoned.  He  then 
seriously  resolved  to  abdicate ;  and  in  a  long  letter 
which  he  wrote  to  the  Grand  Duke,  after  defending 
himself  against  the  misrepresentations  of  which  his 
conduct  had  been  made  the  subject,  and  begging  the 
Prince  to  pardon  the  insurgents,  and  to  publish  the 
acts  of  his  synod,  he  tendered  his  resignation.  To  this 
he  received  a  very  affectionate  answer  the  same  day, 
sympathizing  with  him,  and  granting  pardon  to  the 
revolters,  but  refusing  to  accept  his  resignation,  as  be- 
ing a  step  likely  to  produce  consequences  quite  differ- 
ent from  those  contemplated  by  Ricci. 

Leopold  next  resolved  upon  dismissing  the  assembly. 
In  June,  1787,  he  convoked  the  bishops,  and  told  them 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  ]85 

ill  a  severe  tone  how  much  he  was  displeased  at  their 
conduct ;  exhorted  them  to  show  an  example  of  sub- 
mission, instead  of  revolt,  to  their  flocks  ;  and  warned 
them,  that  if  they  did  not  choose  to  reform  abuses,  he 
would  use  his  right  of  doing  it  himself 

The  fifty-seven  articles  had  been  discussed,  but  the 
latter  ones  in  great  haste,  on  account  of  pressing  cir- 
cumstances. The  Grand  Duke  submitted  them  to 
Ricci,  who  refuted  all  the  memorials  which  the  bishops 
had  contrived  to  insert  in  the  acts.  Leopold  caused 
the  whole  to  be  printed  in  spite  of  the  wish  of  Ricci, 
that  for  the  sake  of  the  honor  of  the  Tuscan  bishops, 
they  should  not  be  made  public. 

The  Grand  Duke,  irritated  by  the  opposition  of  the 
clergy  to  his  reforms,  determined  to  wait  no  longer, 
and  to  begin  them  himself  Ricci,  at  his  desire,  fur- 
nished the  plan  ;  but  they  were  not  proceeded  in,  on 
account  of  the  revolutions  which  then  began  to  agitate 
Europe. 

Several  interesting  letters  are  found  in  Ricci's  me- 
moirs, illustrative  of  the  state  of  the  Continent  at  that 
period. 

July,  1787,  the  Abbe  de  Bellegarde  wrote  from  Paris 
to  Ricci  : 

"  The  public  newspapers  will  have  informed  you  of 
the  seditious  movements  in  the  Austrian  Low  Coun- 
tries. The  principal  instigators  of  them  are,  without 
doubt,  the  ex-jesuits,  and  the  fanatical  partisans  of  the 
Court  of  Rome.  For  many  years  they  have  been  pre- 
paring the  way  for  them  by  their  discourses,  their 
intrigues,  and  above  all,  by  their  alarm-cries,  and  the 
seditious  writinos  with  which  they  have  inundated, 
and  still  continue  to  inundate  the  country.  They  en- 
deavored to  persuade  the  public,  that  the  Emperor's 
object  was  to  overturn  rehgion  and  the  constitution  of 
the  state  ;  and  unfortunately  the  changes  in  the  alTairs 
of  government  have  served  as  a  pretext  to  this  latter 
calumny." 

In  November,  he  announced  the  flight  of  the  Aus- 
trians^  and  the  report  of  the  taking  of  Brussels  by  the 

1(3* 


186  SECRETS    OF 

insurgents.     "  If  this  last  intelligence  be  true,  the  rebels 

are  now  masters  of  the  country In  the  mean  time, 

till  they  are  dispossessed  of  it,  Jesuitism  and  curialism 
will  triumph  there ;  for  it  is  in  their  favor  that  this  re- 
volution is  chiefly  made.  It  is  evidently  a  religious 
war.  the  principal  pretext  of  which  is  all  that  the  sove- 
reign has  done  to  deliver  the  country  from  it ;  this  is 
what  the  fanatics  call  wishing  to  destroy  religion." 

M.  J'Abbe  Y.  at  that  time  entrusted  with  an  import- 
ant mission  at  Rome,  wrote  to  the  Bishop  of  Pistoia, 
October,  1790 : 

''  You  will  probably  have  learnt  the  late  events  in 
Brabant.  Scapularies  and  Capuchins'  cords  form  part 
of  the  booty  made  by  the  conquerors,  the  Imperialists. 
I  figure  to  myself  the  fine  exploits  of  the  bearded  gen- 
try; and  this  idea  alone  would  excite  my  laughter,  did 
not  humanity  and  religion  make  me  weep  for  the  eftu- 
sion  of  the  blood  of  so  many  unfortunates,  so  strangely 
seduced  and  led  to  the  slaughter  by  these  villains  of 
furious  Papists — Papalmi.  Shall  I  tell  you  a  very 
singular  circumstance?  The  same  Abbe  de  Tonger- 
loo,  who  had  promised  in  vulnerability  to  the  Flemish 
crusaders,  had  been,  previously  to*IIfi§^period ,  abbe  of 
the  church  of  Norbert  des  Brabancons  at  Rome,  and  at 
this  moment  still  keeps  up  a  regular  correspondence 
with  people  of  the  same  stamp." 


CHAPTER     X. 

Kicci's  Apology  and  Retirement. 

The  priests  of  Ricci's  own  diocess  sent  petitions  to 
Florence,  entreating  the  abolition  of  the  reforms  intro- 
duced into  Pistoia  and  Prato.  Secretary  Martini  was 
the  instigator  of  these  attempts,  as  Ricci  proved  to 
Leopold,  who  tlireatened  Martini  with  the  loss  of  his 


FEMALE     CONVENTS.  Jgy 

place  in  case  of  their  continuance.  The  Court  of 
Rome  had  its  emissaries  at  all  the  Catholic  courts,  en- 
deavoring to  excite  a  revolt  of  the  people  against  their 
princes  in  its  favor ;  and  the  revolt  of  Prato  was  evi- 
dently a  part  of  this  vast  plan.  The  people  of  Pistoia 
first  petitioned  for  the  restoration  of  the  ancient  order 
of  things ;  from  supplications  they  proceeded  to  acts, 
and  insisted  upon  having  the  ceremonies  of  the  Church 
performed  according  to  their  pleasure. 

In  October,  1787,  Ricci  published  his  eloquent 
"  Apology."  The  Court  of  Rome  was  more  irritated 
than  ever  at  the  success  of  this  piece ;  and  its  emis- 
saries, by  their  continued  charges  of  heresy  and  inno- 
vation against  Ricci,  even  succeeded  for  a  moment  in 
leading  Leopold  to  doubt  him,  though  these  doubts 
were  soon  effaced.  Ricci  had  the  courage  to  return  to 
Prato,  in  spite  of  being  menaced  with  assassination ; 
and  his  mildness  had  the  effect  of  restoring  a  momen- 
tary calm  in  that  city. 

The  publication  of  the  Acts  of  the  Assembly  of 
Florence  and  of  the  Synod  of  Pistoia,  produced  a  great 
effect  throughout  Catholic  Europe  ;  and  Ricci  received 
from  all  parts  the  most  flattering  letters  and  sincere 
compiiments  relative  to  the  Council  of  Pistoia.  Amongst 
other  acts  of  adherence  to  this  council,  Ricci  received 
that  of  the  Jansenist  Archbishop  of  Utrecht,  of  the 
bishops  his  suffrages,  and  of  all  his  metropolitan 
chapter, — an  act  which  was  officially  transmitted  to 
him  by  the  Abbe  de  Bellegrade,  accompanied  by  a 
letter  dated  Utrecht,  November,  1789. 

A  letter,  equally  remarkable,  upon  the  same  subject, 
is  that  of  Le  Bret,  professor  at  Tubingen,  written 
August,  1789. 

After  having  given  Ricci  every  possible  assurance 
of  esteem  and  veneration,  and  testified  the  sincere  in- 
terest he  took  in  the  persecutions  to  which  that  prelate 
had  been  exposed,  the  professor  says  that  he  has  an- 
nexed to  his  letter,  an  academical  dissertation  com- 
posed by  his  pupils,  relative  to  the  affairs  of  the  diocess 
of  Pistoia,   '•'  in  order  to  convince  the  Bishop  of  the 


188  SECRETS    OF  * 

lively  interest  with  which  Protestants  themselves  are 
inspired  by  the  unworthy  treatment  to  which  malice 
had  subjected  him." 

The  Abbe  wrote  from  Rome,  December,  1790 : 

"  The  Spanish  envoy,  of  the  order  of  Augustin, 
having  been  questioned  respecting  the  synod,  whether 
he  found  heresies  in  it,  and  what  was  thought  of  it  in 
Spain,  candidly  answered,  that  the  Collection  of  its 
Acts  was  a  holy  book,  and  that  in  Spain  it  displeased 
none  but  the  monks  ;  that  the  ministers  considered 
it  excellent,  and  that,  in  spite  of  monkish  intrigues,  the 
reprint  of  it  in  the  Spanish  language  has  been  allowed; 
but  that,  notwithstanding  all  this,  the  book  will  be  pro- 
hibited at  Rome,  because  the  Pope  listens  to  none  but 
the  Molinists. 

Leopold  suppressed  the  residence  of  the  Nuncio  at 
his  Court ;  ordered  that  the  monks,  &c.  of  his  states 
should  be  subject  only  to  their  bishops  ;  banished  for- 
eign monks  from  Tuscany ;  recalled  the  absentee  ec- 
clesiastics ;  and  removed  from  Rome  his  minister  Fei, 
who  had  been  completely  gained  over  by  that  Court. 
Rome  was  astonished  at  these  proofs  of  firmness  ;  but, 
not  daring  to  attempt  any  thing  against  him,  directed 
all  its  endeavors  to  the  destruction  of  Ricci. 

With  this  view,  a  congregation  of  Cardinals  was 
called,  for  the  examination  of  the  Synod  of  Pistoia. 
Nothing  reprehensible  was  found  in  its  acts  :  and  a 
second,  more  severe,  was  assembled.  This  congrega- 
tion found  some  unimportant  scruples  only,  relating 
to  the  meaning  of  terms,  which  they  were  ashamed  to 
allege  as  complaints  against  it  to  the  Tuscan  Govern- 
ment. A  third  congregation  was  convoked;  but  though 
the  Pope  had  promised  to  communicate  the  opinions  of 
the  assembly  privately  to  Leopold,  before  taking  any 
public  steps,  this  was  never  done,  and  the  congregation 
continued  to  sit,  merely  for  the  purpose  of  spreadino-  a 
belief  that  there  was  something  reprehensible  in  Ricci's 
synod,  and  of  keeping  the  Bishop  and  his  friends  in 
perpetual  fear  of  his  arrest. 

Ricci  continued  to  be  calumniated  ;  and  the  intrigues 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  189 

of  the  Archbishop  of  Florence,  his  enemy,  succeeded  in 
obtaining  his  abandonment  by  the  priests  of  his  own 
diocess,  and  their  recantation  of  the  decisions  of  the 
synod,  which  they  had  themselves  signed.  The  peo- 
ple began  to  be  persuaded  that  the  sacraments  adminis- 
tered by  Ricci  and  his  partisans  were  null :  and  most 
of  his  diocesans  sent  their  children  to  Florence  to  be 
baptized  or  confirmed.  Ricci  could  not  help  making 
complaints  of  the  way  in  which  he  was  persecuted  ; 
so  that  he  passed  for  a  turbulent  and  violent  person. 

In  the  pontifical  states,  and  still  more  at  Rome,  the 
old  examples  of  clerical  immorality  were  renewed. 

"I  do  not  recollect  whether  I  have  already  told  you 
of  the  bad  conduct  of  the  Bishop  of  Foligno,  who  is 
publicly  accused  of  being  a  sharper  and  unclean  ! 
He  is  a  worthy  ^xotQge  of  Cardinal  Buoncompagni." 

Cardinal  Busca,  at  that  time  one  of  the  chief  and 
favored,  lovers  of  the  Princess  Santa  Croce,  former 
mistress  of  the  French  Ambassador,  Cardinal  de  Ber- 
nis,  dined  at  that  lady's,  in  company  with  Pierre  Paul 
de  Medicis,  son  of  Alverardo  de  Medicis,  of  Florence. 

"  The  partiality  of  that  old  Polixena  for  the  charm- 
ing young  man,  excited  the  jealousy  of  the  overgrown 
Cardinal,  who  gave  way  to  the  most  indecent  excesses. 
He  abused  his  own  footman  at  the  table,  for  pouring 
out  wine  for  Medici,  saying,  'Are  you  also  in  the  plot 
for  coniuting  me  V  Shortly  after  this,  he  threw  a  glass 
of  wine  in  Medici's  face,  who  immediately  started  up 
with  a  menacing  air,  brandishing  a  plate  in  his  hand  ; 
he,  however,  repressed  his  rage,  and  spoke  with  much 
prudence.  The  Roman  Helen  interposed,  as  the  Sa- 
bines  did  after  their  ravishment." 

Public  opinion,  a  circumstance  worthy  of  reflection, 
which  since  the  long  occupation  of  the  states  of  his 
Holiness  by  the  French,  was  much  more  severe  at 
Rome  than  formerly,  had  forced  a  young  prelate  to 
leave  that  city,  to  whom  a  husband  had  made  over 
his  wife  hy  contract. 

Shortly  afterwards,  the  prelate  who  was  governor  of 
Rome,  Avas  obliged  to  fly  in  order  to  escape  the  punish- 


190  SECRETS    OP 

ment  due  to  his  dilapidations,  the  forgeries  he  had 
committed  to  a  considerable  amount,  and  his  unbridled 
libertinism,  backed  by  every  species  of  violence. 

A  third  prelate,  the  relation  of  one  Cardinal,  and 
confidential  agent  in  the  affairs  of  another,  was  taken 
by  some  gendarmes,  at  the  moment  he  was  about  to 
commit  the  most  detestable  of  vices,  under  the  colon- 
nade of  a  palace. 

The  method  now  resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of 
diminishing  these  disorders,  is  the  same  which  was 
employed  thirty  years  ago,  with  such  little  success. 

Under  these  circumstances,  Ricci  lost  all  the  little 
authority  which  he  formerly  possessed  in  his  diocess. 
The  people  abolished  all  his  reforms,  and  restored  the 
ancient  splendor  of  the  worship ;  while  the  ministers 
of  the  Grand  Duke  endeavored  to  remove  from  Ricci 
his  only  partisans,  the  curates  of  his  diocess,  by  depriv- 
ing them  of  their  salaries. 

In  February,  1790,  the  news  of  Joseph's  death  arrived. 
The  certainty  of  the  departure  of  Leopold  awakened, 
on  all  hands,  the  spirit  of  revolt ;  and  the  populace,  in 
a  state  of  sedition,  clamored  loudly  against  their  Bishop. 
The  canons,  whose  pretensions  he  had  diminished, 
exclaimed  against  the  illegality  of  his  reforms,  and 
gradually  made  all  traces  of  them  disappear. 

Leopold,  however,  did  not  yield.  He  renewed  his 
orders  for  the  observance  of  all  that  Ricci  had  done, 
and  assured  him  of  the  protection  of  the  Regency. 
But  it  was  not  probable  that  those  who  had  opposed 
him  while  in  power,  should  now  obey  him.  The  new 
regents  sowed  fresh  disorders  in  Pistoia.  They  said, 
that  the  popular  feeling  should  be  left  to  its  natural 
course,  and  declared  all  interference  of  the  Govern- 
ment on  Church  matters  not  only  dangerous,  but 
illegal. 

Matters  were  still  worse  when  Leopold  quitted  Tus- 
cany. Pistoia  then  became  the  prey  of  the  fanatics. 
The  Regency,  through  crafty  motives,  exceeded  the 
intentions  of  Leopold,  in  order  to  irritate  the  people. 
Leopold  had  ordered  the  suppression  of  all  splendor 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  191 

in  the  Church  ceremonies,  which  they  interpreted  to 
mean  the  aboUtion  even  of  the  cross  and  tapers  at  bu- 
rials. The  priests  were  forced,  by  the  clamors  of  the 
people,  to  replace  these,  and  the  Government  seized 
that  pretext  for  punishing  them  severely.  This  absurd 
and  ill  timed  rigor  increased  the  general  irritation. 

Count  Lonis  Gianni,  brother  of  the  Minister  of  Tus- 
cany, thus  wrote  to  Ricci  from  Rome,  August,  1789  : 

"  The  French  strike  at  the  root  of  the  evil,  and  give 
us  a  strong  and  prompt  example  for  imitation.  By 
depriving  the  clergy  of  their  riches,  they  prepare  them 
for  the  acquirement  of  knowledge  and  the  reformation 
of  morals  ;  the  pensioning  of  monks  and  nuns  will  en- 
sure the  destruction  of  the  orders.  Rome  is  silent,  and 
will  ever  continue  so,  when  opposed  by  vigorous  and 
Avell  digested  measures.  Would  to  God  that  other 
sovereigns  would  imitate  so  salutary  a  reform  !" 

There  soon  was  but  one  party, — that  of  the  enemies 
of  the  Bishop.  People  began  to  talk  of  his  approach- 
ing condemnation  at  Rome,  and  of  the  sentence  he 
was  to  undergo — a  sentence  which  would  have  caused 
him  to  be  called  before  the  Inquisition,  and  imprisoned 
in  a  fortress  for  the  rest  of  his  da^^s. 

In  order  to  hasten  the  explosion,  Fabroni,  the  prin- 
cipal magistrate  of  Pistoia,  caused  one  of  the  altars 
which  had  been  rebuilt  at  the  wish  of  the  people,  to  be 
thrown  down  in  the  night.  This  measure  was  attribu- 
ted to  Ricci,  whose  personal  safety  was  now  menaced 
by  a  furious  populace,  on  account  of  an  event  of  which 
the  Bishop  knew  nothing.  The  Emperor  consented, 
at  that  time,  to  the  abolition  of  the  greater  part  of  the 
reforms  which  been  effected  during  his  reign.  But  this 
was  not  sufficient  for  his  adversaries.  They  hated 
even  the  person  of  the  reformer,  and  left  no  means  un- 
tried to  make  him  abandon  his  diocess,  and  deprive 
him  of  his  title. 

At  Prato  a  report  had  been  circulated  that  the  Bishop 
intended  to  make  a  pastoral  visit,  for  no  other  purpose 
but  that  of  the  altar  of  the  Holy  Girdle. 

At  Pistoia,  similar  means  produced  similar  effects. 


192  SECRETS,  OF 

It  was  said  that  the  Bishop  wished  to  whiten  the  image 
of  the  Virgin  of  Himiility^  whose  pretended  miracles, 
closing^  of  the  eyes,  tears,  &c.,  raised  the  pubUc  fanati- 
cism into  fury.  In  April,  1790,  the  revolution  broke 
out.  The  magistrate  who  had  removed  the  altar  was 
one  of  its  directors,  and  so  managed  the  ferment  as  to 
produce  what  was  ardently  desired,  the  departure  of 
Ricci,  who  quitted  Pistoia. 

Scarcely  was  he  gone,  when  the  people  had,  in  a 
ie\Y  days,  abolished  many  years'  work  of  reformation. 
The  altars  which  had  been  demolished  were  rebuilt, 
the  images  were  replaced  and  veiled,  the  abolished 
ceremonies  were  resumed;  with  all  the  pomp  of  the 
church  festivals  and  ceremonies,  the  books  recom- 
mended by  Ricci  were  burnt,  the  monasteries  re-estab- 
lished, ifcc.  The  ie\Y  partisans  of  the  Bishop  who 
remained,  were  styled  Scipionists^  and  pointed  out  to 
the  popular  fury,  and  forced  to  retire  from  the  town. 
Every  thing  was  replaced  on  the  old  footing. 

Ricci,  on  his  retirement,  preserved  all  his  firmness, 
which  was  joined  with  resignation.  His  curates  testi- 
fied their  admiration  of  and  regard  for  their  Bishop, 
and  informed  him  of  the  evils  under  which  they  were 
suffering.  Some  of  them,  who  had  recanted  the  prin- 
ciples they  professed  under  Ricci,  again  confessed  their 
belief  in  them,  as  publicly  as  they  had  once  retracted 
them. 

But  the  retreat  of  Ricci  had  not  the  efiect  of  restoring 
order  in  the  diocess  of  Pistoia.  His  adversaries  were 
supported  by  the  Regency  and  the  local  magistrates, 
who  even  refused  him  permission  to  publish  a  circular 
addressed  to  his  curates,  because  he  therein  called  them 
his  brethren.  This  culpable  condescension  on  the 
part  of  the  Government  to  the  wishes  of  the  mob, 
speedily  rendered  the  revolt  general  throughout  Tus- 
cany. It  broke  out  at  Florence,  June,  1790,  and  the 
people  found  no  difficulty  in  procuring,  with  other 
privileges  which  they  demanded,  the  abolition  of  all 
the  ecclesiastical  reforms. 

At  that  time,  an  English  Roman  Catholic  lady,  be- 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  193 

lieving  Ricci's  life  in  clanger,  offered  him  letters  and 
money  to  enable  him  to  seek  protection  elsewhere. 
He  retired,  however,  to  his  villa  when  he  received  in- 
telligence that  the  Emperor  Leopold  had  given  up  the 
Grand-duchy  to  his  son  Ferdinand,  and  that  he  had 
no  longer  any  hope  of  suppressing  the  disorders. 

As  soon  as  the  new  Grand  Duke's  arrival  was  an- 
nounced in  Tuscany,  the  enemies  of  Ricci  siezed  the 
opportunity  of  demanding  that  Ricci  should  be  deposed. 
But  as  the  Emperor  had  signified  his  order  for  the  re- 
installation of  the  Bishop  before  he  should  arrive  in 
Tuscany  with  his  son,  the  Regency  thought  this  would 
be  a  good  opportunity  to  raise  anew  the  popular  dis- 
contents, by  publishing  that  fact.  Instead  of  doing 
any  thing  to  quell  them,  they  sent  orders  to  Ricci 
desiring  him  to  return  to  Pistoia. 

The  prelate  replied,  that  before  he  decided  on  ex- 
posing himself  to  new  affronts,  the  Government  ought  to 
punish  the  rebels,  and  calm  the  spirits  of  the  populace; 
that  his  departure  from  his  diocess  had  been  forced, 
and  that  his  return,  in  like  manner,  depended  on  their 
acts,  and  not  on  himself. 

Ricci  had  no  wish  fo  return  to  his  diocess ;  but  he 
wished,  if  this  were  insisted  on,  that  his  residence  there 
might  at  least  be  rendered  jyossible.  He  refused  to  do 
any  thmg  that  might  dishonor  himself,  or  consent  to 
make  any  confession  which  should  hurt  his  conscience; 
and  though  strongly  pressed  by  Leopold,  he  remained 
firm  in  his  ancient  opinions,  and  '-continued  to  hold 
fast  the  doctrines  which  he  had  always  professed." 

The  Emperor  reiterated  his  orders  to  the  Regency 
in  the  most  formal  terms ;  but  no  steps  were  taken  to 
put  an  end  to  the  troubles.  The  Government  gave 
orders  a  second  time,  however,  for  Ricci  to  return  to 
Pistoia,  as  Leopold  and  his  son  were  daily  expected  ; 
and  this  order  created  a  great  efiervescence  throughout 
the  whole  of  Ricci's  diocess. 

The  Emperor  arrived  in  April,  ]79L  The  malcon- 
tents of  Pistoia  presented  a  request  to  his  Majesty,  that 
he  would  deliver  them  from  their  Bishop ;  but  they 

17 


194  SECRETS    OF 

were  very  coolly  received.  The  Bishop  was  received 
in  a  very  different  manner  by  Leopold,  as  well  as  by 
the  Prince,  who  gave  him  a  public  audience,  in  which 
he  assured  him  of  his  support.  This  encouraged  his 
adherents  in  the  two  diocesses,  who  earnestly  demanded 
the  return  of  their  pastor.  But  it  was  already  deter- 
mined that  the  repose  of  the  country  should  be 
purchased  by  the  dismission  of  Ricci,  and  Leopold 
hinted  this  to  him  distinctly  in  their  last  interview. 

The  moment  for  accomplishing  his  utter  ruin  was 
not  yet  come.  His  enemies,  however,  continued  to 
keep  up  the  cry  against  him,  and  repeated  till  they 
fancied  they  understood  their  own  meaning,  that  Ricci 
did  not  believe  in  the  Pope. 

The  Grand  Duke  addressed  himself  to  the  persecuted 
prelate,  and  desired  to  know  what  it  was  his  intention 
to  do.  Ricci  left  the  decision  of  the  question  entirely 
to  Ferdinand,  and  wrote  to  him  to  that  effect.  The 
Grand  Duke  sent  him  a  form  of  resignation,  which 
Ricci  only  modified  so  far  as  to  render  it  canonical, 
and  signed  it  the  same  day. 

When  Ricci  was  about  to  leave  his  diocess  for  ever, 
all  those  who  were  not  quite  his  enemies  expressed 
their  regret  at  losing  him,  either  in  person  or  by  letter; 
and  this  was  the  only  consolation  now  left  to  him.  In 
vain  he  retired  from  public  life.  While  a  public  man, 
only  his  system  and  his  enterprises  had  been  attacked: 
now,  the  attacks  were  turned  upon  him  personally. 
The  first  attempt  made  on  him  was  in  the  shape  of  a 
long  lawsuit,  to  deprive  him  of  the  pension  which  had 
been  promised  him.  He  refused,  however,  to  plead  the 
cause,  and  preferred  renouncing  the  salary. 

Another  source  of  regret  was,  to  see  his  successor^ 
Falchi,  confirm  all  that  had  been  perpetrated  by  the 
ignorant  and  turbulent  persons  of  his  diocess  ;  the 
banishment  of  all  attached  to  his  person  or  opinions  ; 
and  the  desolation  of  the  ecclesiastical  patrimony  raised 
for  the  payment  of  the  clergy. 

The  ex- Bishop,  amidst  all  these  events,  led  a  retired 
life,  forgetting  the  promises  which  had  been  held  out 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  195 

to  him  by  the  Government,  as  a  compensation  for  the 
loss  of  his  bishopric,  as  easily  as  those  promises  had 
been  foro^otten. 

The  death  of  the  Emperor,  in  March,  1792,  removed 
all  restraint  upon  the  enemies  of  Ricci,  and  especially 
from  Falchi,  who  immediately  invented  a  report,  that 
the  late  diocesans  of  Ricci,  whom  Falchi  had  banished, 
had  kept  up  a  correspondence  with  their  late  Bishop, 
on  the  best  means  of  poison insf  Falchi  ;  and  he  drew 
up  an  absurd  declaration,  which  only  published  to  the 
world  the  folly  of  his  atrocious  suspicions. 

The  Court  of  Rome  now  determined  to  interfere  in 
these  persecutions  of  Ricci,  especially  when  it  discover- 
ed that  the  Synod  of  Pistoia  had  served  as  a  model  for 
the  civil  constitution  of  the  clergy,  recommended  by 
the  French  Constituent  Assembly.  Pius  YI.  began  by 
fulminating  the  most  outrageous  declarations  against 
the  French.  Afterwards  he  attacked  the  Bishop  of 
Pistoia ;  and  it  was  determined,  at  one  time,  to  cite 
Ricci  before  the  Papal  Court.  The  success  of  the 
French  arms,  however,  and  the  indignation  they  felt 
at  the  interference  of  the  Pope,  stopped  this  for  a  time. 

Of  the  extravagancies  and  horrors  then  perpetrated 
at  Rome,  Ricci  received  the  following  account : 

"  The  principal  efforts  were  directed  against  the 
Ghetto^  the  quarter  of  the  Jews,  whose  pillage  had 
been  promised  to  the  Roman  mob,  as  a  reward  for 
the  murder  of  the  Republicans,  and  whom  fanaticism 
held  forth  to  the  blood-thirsty  Catholics  as  the  enemies 
of  their  God.  M.  Y.  informs  us,  that  it  required  all  the 
efforts  of  several  thousands  of  soldiers  to  prevent  all 
Jews,  who  had  shut  themselves  up  in  their  houses, 
from  being  burnt  to  death.  The  Romans  demanded, 
with  loud  cries,  permission  to  ''burn  them  in  honor  of 
Peter  and  Paul,  of  religion  and  his  Holiness :"  the 
shouts  of  hatred  and  death  to  the  French  were  min- 
gled with  these  transports  of  ferocious  devotion. 
"  The  outcries  commenced  in  the  midst  of  gangs  of 
barbers  and  postilions,  among  whom  were  also  some 
Abbes  of  respectable  families.     To  satisfy  the  people. 


196  SECRETS    OF 

Pius  yi.  subjected  the  Jews  again  to  all  the  restrictions, 
duties,  penalties,  exactions,  and  to  the  distinguishing 
and  infamous  marks  to  which  Pius  V.  had  condemned 
them,  and  which  the  progress  of  civilization,  of  know- 
ledge, of  justice,  and  of  humanity,  had  abolished." 

Ricci  now  resolved  to  live  altogether  in  private,  in 
order  to  avoid  giving  his  enemies  any  pretences  for 
farther  persecution.  His  buildings  and  his  occupations 
"were  devoted  to  the  benefit  of  the  poor  ;  and  while  he 
employed  himself  in  furthering  the  welfare  of  his  fel- 
low creatures,  he  could  not  help  being  grieved  at  the 
conduct  of  those  whose  duty  it  was  to  meliorate  their 
condition,  instead  of  rendering  it  more  perilous  and 
painful. 

It  was  in  this  light  that  he  regarded  the  conduct  of 
the  Roman  Court,  which  was  then  preaching  up  a 
crusade  against  the  French,  and  inflaming  the  people 
by  noisy  and  turbulent  missions.  This  produced  the 
massacre  of  Basseville,  and  the  popular  tumult  which 
was  excited  by  the  priests,  who  determined,  "in  the 
name  of  the  Virgin,  the  Apostles,  and  the  Pope,"  to 
murder  all  the  French,  and  burn  all  the  Jews  who 
were  to  be  found  in  Rome.  Such  infamous  policy  as 
this  only  rendered  the  situation  of  the  Pope  more  criti- 
cal, and  tended  to  hasten  the  fall  of  the  Papal  throne. 

While  the  French  conquests  were  threatening  the 
temporal  monarchy  of  the  Pope,  the  Spanish  ministry 
was  menacing  its  spiritual  despotism,  by  announcing 
the  publication  of  the  Acts  of  the  Council  of  Pistoia. 

"  The  reprinting  of  the  Synod  of  Pistoia,  which  was 
about  to  be  published  in  Spain,  has  decided  the  issuing 
of  the  brief,  Auctorem  Pide'i^  in  order  to  prevent  it. 
The  non-publication  of  the  acts  of  Ricci's  synod  was 
in  consequence  of  the  fears  with  which  Rome  still  in- 
spired Spain  at  that  period.  The  germs,  however,  of  a 
reform^  similar  to  the  one  effected  by  the  Grand  Duke 
Leopold,  did  not  on  that  account  spring  up  the  less; 
and,  when  the  change  of  circumstances  had  operated 
a  total  revolution  in  ideas,  when  it  had  emboldened 
the   old   Governments  of  Europe   by  humbling  the 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  197 

Court  of  Rome,  their  ancient  enemy,  the  courage  of 
the  Spanish  bishops  appeared  to  revive,  the  Minister 
resumed  his  former  plans,  and  the  Concordat  he  was 
then  desirous  of  conchiding,  seemed  to  be  entirely  con- 
formable to  the  principles  of  modern  canonists.  The 
Pope  trembled,  and  the  Janseiiists  mutually  communi- 
cated their  hopes." 

"  It  consoles  me  to  see  that  good  principles  begin  to 
find  their  way  into  Spain,  where  several  bishops  think 
of  reforming  many  abuses." 

''  It  is  not  the  Svnod  of  Pistoia  which  raises  its  voice, 
but  men  who  are  at  length  aroused  from  their  profound 
sleep,  lashed  by  the  tyrannical  despotism  of  the  cursed 
Babylon,  Rome  !  I  hope  that  the  synod  thus  severely 
treated,  will  become  the  model  for  this  portion  of  Spa- 
nish Catholicism." 

"  The  arrival  at  Rome  of  the  Spanish  ministers, 
causes  as  much  alarm  there,  as.  a  short  time  ago,  did 
the  approach  of  the  French  army.  The  latter,  at  the 
worst,  only  exacted  a  temporary  contribution.  The 
former  threaten  the  fixed  funds  and  revenues  from 
which  that  court  draws  wherewithal  to  support  its 
hixury  and  splendor." 

The  Papal  Court,  as  usual,  tried  to  operate  a  diver- 
sion in  its  faA^or,  by  ordaining  a  final  examination  of 
the  Council  of  Pistoia,  intending  to  issue  a  formal  con- 
demnation of  it. 

Accordinofly,  in  April,  1794,  Ricci  received  an  fhti- 
mation  from  Rome,  that  the  Pope  would  be  graciously 
pleased  to  hear  a  defence  of  his  synod,  if  he  should 
appear  at  Rome  before  the  Bull  was  issued  against 
him.  This  letter  Ricci  communicated  to  Ferdinand, 
representing  that  the  Pope  had  violated  his  promise 
towards  Leopold ;  but  Ferdinand,  who  was  unwilling 
to  give  up  Ricci  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other 
dreaded  the  vengeance  of  Rome,  recommended  Ricci 
to  refuse  going  to  Rome,  on  the  ground  of  his  ill  health. 
He  was  enjoined  to  declare  his  devotion  to  the  Pope, 
and  to  insinuate  that  it  was  surely  unnecessary  for  his 

17* 


193  SECRETS    OF 

Holiness  to  occupy  himself  Avith  the  acts  of  a  synod, 
which  were  now  no  where  in  force. 

The  object  of  the  Spanish  Government,  in  wishing 
to  publish  the  Acts  of  the  Synod  of  Pistoia,  was,  that 
they  might  serve  as  a  basis  to  the  reforms  which  it 
contemplated  ;  and  this  was  the  cause  of  the  anxiety 
of  the  Papal  Court  for  their  suppression.  With  this 
view,  the  Pope  caused  his  Nuncio  to  g^ive  the  Spanish 
Court  notice  of  the  approaching  condemnation  of  the 
assembly  of  Pistoia,  and  this  sufficed  to  stop  the  pro- 
jected printing  of  them.  Without  replying  farther  to 
Ricci,  the  Pope  issued,  August,  1794,  the  famous  Bull 
Auctorem  Fidel^  of  which  none  of  the  articles  were 
communicated  to  Ricci,  notwithstanding  the  Pope's 
promise  to  that  eifect,  given  to  Leopold.  Ricci,  who 
had  received  no  notice  of  his  own  condemnation,  was 
resolved  not  to  reply  to  what  he  was  not  supposed  to 
know.  Ferdi]iand  approved  of  his  conduct,  and  the 
Bull  was  forbidden  to  be  sold  or  published  in  any  of 
the  Tuscan  States,  though  the  Pope's  Nuncio  contrived 
to  circulate  it  surreptitiously  among  the  people. 

The  Bull  did  not,  however,  produce  all  the  eflects 
which  the  Papal  Court  expected.  It  was  suppressed 
at  Naples,  Turin,  Venice,  Milan,  in  Spain,  Portugal, 
and  France  ;  and  even  at  Rome  it  was  despised. 

"  At  Rome,  this  aifair,  the  condemnation  of  the  Sy- 
nod of  Pistoia  by  the  Bull  Ai/ctore7?i,  is  spoken  of  still 
less  than  at  Florence ;  that  is  to  say,  it  is  not  spoken 
of  at  all." 

Bat  Rome,  though  deprived  of  the  triumph  she  ex- 
pected, contrived,  by  her  intrigues,  to  excite  against 
Ricci  the  envy  and  hatred  of  all  his  old  colleagues, 
particularly  Falchi ;  and  however  retired  the  ex-bishop 
lived,  he  could  not  but  feel  the  effects  of  them.  The 
people  dispersed  when  he  mounted  the  altar,  even  his 
confessor  refused  him  absolution,  and  he  was  very  near 
passing  for  one  of  the  most  dangerous  heretics. 

It  was  at  that  time  sufficient  to  bear  the  name  of 
Jansenist,  to  be  overwhelmed  with  all  the  implacable 
hatred  of  Rome,  which  saw  in  the  Jansenists  its  most 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  199 

dangerous  enemies ;  and  to  be  exposed  to  all  the  per- 
secutions and  vexations  which  fanatics,  bigots,  fools, 
and  hypocrites  are  capable  of  inflicting.  The  success 
of  the  French  revolution,  which  was  regarded  as  the 
completion  of  Jansenism,  whilst  both  of  them  were  but 
the  result  of  the  greater  or  less  extension  of  knowledge, 
had  rendered  this  religious  furor  much  more  ardent 
than  it  had  been  before  this  epoch. 

Sciarelli  wrote  from  GoUe,  September,  1794  : 

"  I  find  several  propositions  condemned,  which  pre- 
viously to  this  Bull  my  limited  understanding  had  con- 
sidered Catholic  ones.  The  Bishop  of  Pistoia  and  his 
followers  condemned  the  propositions  condemned  by 
the  Roman  Court,  in  the  very  sense  of  the  Bull — a  sense 
which  never  had  been  either  theirs,  or  that  of  the  dio- 
cesan synod.  Did  not  those  sectaries  themselves,  like 
the  primitive  .lansenists,  know  what  they  believed,  or 
what  they  ought  to  believe  ?  Or  rather,  did  their  greater 
or  less  degree  of  faith  depend,  not  upon  tlieir  more  or 
less  share  of  piety  or  knowledge,  but  upon  the  greater 
or  less  strength  of  their  character  for  resisting  the 
caresses  and  the  menaces  of  the  Court  of  Rome  ?'' 

Camillo  Albergotti  Pezzoni  wrote  from  Arezzo,  Sep-^ 
tember,  1794: 

"  The  mania  for  universal  dominion  always  renders 
the  Court  of  Rome  more  and  more  obstinate  in  the  pro- 
fession of  her  pernicious,  lax  and  LoioUstical  maxims; 
puifed  up  with  papal  infallibility,  she  declares  war 
against  the  defenders  of  the  v/holesome  doctrine  of  the 
Church,  which  is  that  of  Auguslin.  In  the  present 
situation  of  Europe,  the  Pope  excites  pity,  when  he  is 
seen  hurling  forth  decrees  of  condemnation  one  after 
another,  which  wound  the  sovereign  authority.  He 
speaks  of  the  Bull  Auctore??i,  and  guarantees  maxims 
of  laxity.  This  is  the  work  of  the  Bolegni,  Cuccagni, 
Marchetti,  Zaccharia,  (fee.  This  slow  surprise  made 
upon  the  Pope  by  the  shameless  Molinists,  against  the 
Augustinian  doctrine,  is  a  fresh  infallible  argument  of 
the  fallibility  of  his  Holiness." 

The  Abbe  D.  sent  Ricci  the  decree  of  the  Inquisition 


200  SECRETS    OF 

of  Genoa,  printed  at  Genoa,  and  bearing  the  following 
date  :  Ex  edibus  S.  Inqiiisitionis  Genna3,  die  19  Sep- 
tembris,  1794,  from  the  Palace  of  the  Holy  Inquisition 
of  Genoa,  19th  Sept.  1794.  That  decree  was  directed 
against  the  acts  of  the  Synod  of  Pistoia,  which  had 
been  proscribed,  as  it  was  expressed  by  the  Pontifical 
Bull.  The  Abbe  adds  to  this  document,  so  remarka- 
ble for  the  period,  the  copy  of  a  letter  written  by  Frd 
Benedetto,  brother  Benedict  Solari,  Bishop  of  Noli,  to 
the  Senate  of  Genoa,  to  disprove  and  combat  the  said 
decree,  and  the  condemnation  of  the  acts  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  Pistoia,  which  he  declared  he  would  not  receive. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  influence  of  the  French  was 
daily  more  and  more  felt  in  Italy,  by  means  of  the 
Republican  arms. 

It  was  in  Italy  as  in  Spain.  The  new  opinions, 
equally  favorable  to  the  governments  and  the  national 
clergy,  no  longer  finding  th€  same  resistance  on  the 
part  of  Rome,  which  was  reduced  to  defend  its  own 
existence,  were  rapidly  propagated,  and  received  with 
welcome,  especially  by  those  who  had  hitherto  been 
denominated  the  lower  clergy.  The  French  Consti- 
tutionalists seconded  with  all  their  energy  this  moral 
revolution,  by  disseminating  their  opinions  and  max- 
ims, in  proportion  as  they  extended  their  communica- 
tions, with  their  correspondence,  the  only  method  of 
at  length  rendering  their  Church,  if  not  more  respect- 
able in  the  opinion  of  the  Roman  court,  at  least  more 
formidable,  which  produced  the  same  results. 

The  character  of  cannibals  had  been  generally 
given  to  the  French  in  Italy,  by  all  the  weak  and  timid 
Governments,  who  hoped  to  inspire  the  people  with 
the  courage  of  despair  against  pretended  kinds  of 
monsters  whom  they  had  held  up  as  objects  of  terror 
in  the  tales  of  the  nursery.  The  Papal  Government 
particularly  distinguished  itself  by  those  puerile  follies. 
It  caused  it  to  be  reported  throughout  all  its  States, 
that  the  French  Republicans  were  impious  men,  and 
barbarians ;  that  they  married  several  wives,  and 
adored  several   gods,  amongst  others  the  idol  called 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  201 

the  Tree  of  Liberty :  that  they  violated  women  and 
young  girls,  and  devoured  children.  This  is  asserted 
in  a  pamphlet  published  by  Annibal  Mariotti,  who, 
upon  the  entrance  of  the  brigands  of  Arezzo  into  Pe- 
rugia, was  arrested,  for  having  refuted  these  absurd 
Papal  calumnies.  He  was  one  of  the  twenty  individ- 
uals detained  for  Jacobinism^  whom  the  regency  of 
Perugia  selected  from  amono^  a  thousand  victims 
which  crowded  then-  prison,  and  whom  it  granted  to 
the  Aretins,  who  had  only  asked  for  ten,  to  grace  their 
triumphal  return  to  Arezzo. 

As  the  civil  constitution  of  the  French  clergy  had 
been  modelled  upon  the  reforms  of  Leopold,  it  was 
neither  judged  proper  to  condemn  them  at  Florence, 
nor  to  persecute  their  partisans.  Ricci,  therefore, 
thought  he  might  now  come  and  inhabit  the  capital. 

The  Court  of  Rome  seemed  driven  to  its  fate  by  a 
khid  of  insanity.  It  issued  new  Bulls  against  the 
French  Directory  more  furious  than  the  first.  Another 
method  it  adopted  was,  to  excite  the  mob,  by  the  exhi- 
bition of  pretended  miracles,  to  renew  the  Sicilian 
Vespers  throughout  Italy.  The  shutting  and  opening 
of  the  eyes  of  the  Madonnas  in  the  churches  and  streets 
were  tricks  principally  resorted  to,  and  were  interpreted 
by  the  priests  as  irrefragable  proof  of  the  victory 
which  the  soldiers  of  the  Roman  Court  would  infallibly 
gain  over  the  troops  of  the  Republic. 

We  shall  notice  the  miracle  of  the  famous  Madonna 
of  Ancona.  From  a  work  published  a  few  years  ago, 
we  can  see  the  spirit  of  those  who  governed  at  the 
period  connected  with  this  history,  and  the  nature  of 
that  which  they  are  endeavoring  to  establish  in  the 
present  day.  This  work  is  entitled  : — "  A  moral  and 
historical  picture  of  the  invasion  of  Italy  in  1796,  and 
of  the  miraculous  and  simultaneous  opening  of  the 
eyes  of  the  holy  image  of  the  most  blessed  Maria, 
reverenced  in  the  Cathedral  of  Ancona :  Assisi,  1820  : 
With  license." 

The  author  is  the  Abbe  Vincent  Albertini,  professor 
of  eloquence  at  Fermo.     After  his  portrait,  which  is 


202  SECRETS    OF 

immediately  followed  by  that  of  the  Madonna,  is  the 
author's  Dedication  to  the  most  blessed  Yir2:in.  Then 
comes  the  introduction.  "Modern  policy,  it  is  said,  is 
wholly  occupied  with  the  most  moderate  plans  and 
systems,  with  the  most  salutary  amnesties,  and  with  a 
most  sincere  and  unreserved  oblivion  of  the  past,  with 
the  conviction  that  this  will  be  found  not  a  momentary, 
but  a  lasting  panacea  for  all  the  evils  which  have  so 
long  afflicted  Europe." 

Albertini  commences  his  subject  by  a  long  disserta- 
tion upon  the  eyes  so  full  of  tenderness  of  the  Vir- 
gin. "  Hitherto  nothing  had  been  so  common  as  to  see 
those  eyes  turn  towards  us,  but  then  it  was  only  from 
the  summit  of  the  Heaven  where  she  dwells."  It  was 
for  Ancona  that  the  rare  happiness  was  reserved  of 
possessing  the  first  image  of  the  Virgin  which  visibly 
opened  and  shut  eyes  painted  upon  the  cloth,  and  this 
at  a  time  when  the  presence  of  the  French  kept  up  the 
violent  agitation  of  men's  minds. 

He  attributes  that  agitation,  which  he  calls  a  con- 
vulsion, to  "the  abominable  race  of  anti-social  misan- 
thropes, self-styled  philosophic  regenerators ;"  and 
maintains  that  history  will  confound  them  with  the 
Ravaillacs,  the  Crom wells,  the  Mirabeaus,  the  Marats, 
and  the  Robespierres. 

He  speaks  of  the  miracle  of  Ancona,  which  took 
place  June,  1796;  at  the  very  time  when  the  news, 
which  had  been  spread  about,  of  the  defeat  of  the 
French  in  Germany  and  Upper  Italy,  had  made  the 
subjects  of  his  Holiness  believe  that  all  that  was  want- 
ed to  effect  a  complete  riddance  of  the  presence  of  the 
Republicans  was  a  small  quantity  of  popular  fanaticism, 
very  easy  to  be  aroused  by  means  of  some  pretended 
prodigies.  "  The  angels,"  says  the  author,  "  who, 
upon  their  heavenly  throne,  worship  with  profound 
veneration  their  mighty  sovereign — the  angels,  whose 
countenances  we  are  not  permitted  to  behold,  envy,  in 
some  degree^  your  lot." 

All  the  inhabitants  of  Ancona  flocked  to  this  image 
of  the  miraculous   Virgin,  and   manifested   the  most 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  203 

sincere  signs  of  penitence,  joy,  and  devotion.    Cardinal 
Ranuzzi  showed  himself  among  the  foremost. 

There  was  a  plausible  motive  for  the  Virgin  per- 
forming her  miracle  at  Ancona,  in  preference  to  any- 
other  place  :  which  Albertini  thus  explains  : — 

'^  Ancona,  placed  m  the  centre  of  Italy,  is  a  sea-port; 
vessels  might,  therefore,  carry  in  a  short  time  the  news 
of  this  miracle  from  the  Adriatic  Gulf  to  the  most 
distant  nations  of  the  two  hemispheres."  Our  author 
assures  us  that  Jesus  Christ  conceived  the  first  idea  of 
this  anti-republican  miracle  ;  and  spake  to  his  Mother 
in  the  following  strange  manner  :  "  Go,  O  conciliating 
and  mediating  between  God  and  man,  whom  thou  hast 
conquered  !  In  thee  have  I  placed  the  seat  of  my 
power.  By  thy  means  I  grant  the  favors  asked  at  my 
hands.  As  thou  gavest  to  me  the  essence  of  man,  so 
will  I  give  to  thee  that  of  God,  my  omnipotence,  with 
which  thou  canst  assist  all  who  recommend  themselves 
to  thee  !" 

Albertini  desires,  he  says,  not  the  death,  but  the  con- 
version of  the  sinner.  He  would  even  have  wished 
that  the  Emperor  Julian,  whom  Christian  historians 
have  named  the  Apostate,  and  whom  he  calls  the  im- 
pious  iconoclast,  could  have  seen  only  once  the  miracle 
which  the  most  noble  city  of  Ancona  enjoyed  for  seve- 
ral months  together. 

The  famous  restoration  of  the  absolute  Governments, 
which  is  also  a  miracle,  could  not  be  passed  over  in 
silence  by  the  historian  of  the  miraculous  image. 
''  All  the  Italian  princes,  with  the  exception  of  the 
overthrown  Republics,  are  stupified,  as  at\er  a  long 
sleep,  in  seeing  themselves  reinstated  in  their  feudal 
dominions, — an  event  which  no  human  power  could 
have  calculated.'' 

Then  follows  the  history  ol  the  miraculous  image 
placed  in  a  magnificent  chapel  of  Cyriac  at  Ancona  : 

'•  So  unheard-of  a  prodigy  was  attested  by  more  than 
eighty  thousand  ocular  witnesses,  and  by  legal  inqui- 
ries. A  true  account  of  it  was  published,  by  order  of 
Cardinal  Ranuzzi.    Besides  this,  the  deputy  Betti  made 


204  SECRETS    OF 

it  a  duty  to  transmit  this  fact  to  posterity,  by  means  of 
an  inscription  engraven  upon  stone,  and  which,  for  the 
purpose  of  preserving  the  recollection  of  it  for  ever, 
was  placed  in  the  cathedral. 

"  In  November,  1796,  was  finished  the  jjroces  verbal 
which  had  been  drawn  up  of  the  proofs  of  this  miracle, 
under  the  strictest  regulations. 

"  The  Pope,  by  his  brief  of  November,  had  just 
instituted  a  pious  brotherhood  in  honor  of  this  image, 
under  the  name  of  the  Sons  and  Daughters  of  Maria. 
After  this  miracle,  it  was  found  impossible  to  close  the 
church  for  twelve  successive  nights,  so  great  was  the 
concourse  of  people  attracted  by  the  prodigy." 

"  In  July,  three  painters,  the  Vicar  Pacifici,  the 
notary  Francois  Vallaca,  and  the  attorney  Bonavia, 
accompanied  by  several  witnesses  taken  from  the 
canons,  by  many  noblemen  and  some  foreigners,  went 
to  examine  the  manner  in  which  the  holy  image  was 
painted,  in  order  to  ascertain  with  certainty  whether 
some  imposture,  the  work  of  human  malice,  had  not 
been  introduced  by  means  of  the  change  of  colors,  &c. 
Scarcely  had  they  taken  off  the  glass  which  covered 
it,  when  the  image  opened  its  ever  blessed  eyes  twice 
successively,  to  a  greater  extent  than  it  had  ever  be- 
fore done,  and  then  closed  them  again,  as  a  still  farther 
proof  of  the  truth  of  the  first  miracle." 

It  is  not  exactly  clear  whence  arose  the  incredulity 
of  the  examining  commissioners,  since  at  the  time  of 
the  solelmn  procession  of  June,  the  day  after  the  mira- 
cle, the  Virgin  did  nothing  but  open,  shut,  and  turn 
her  eyes  on  all  sides,  to  the  great  delight  of  the  inhabit- 
ants, who  wept  tears  of  joy.  In  June  1800,  and  Au- 
gust, 1817,  this  same  procession  took  place,  by  way  of 
thanksgiving  ;  but  the  Virgin  did  not  vouchsafe  to  open 
her  eyes.     It  appears  she  had  seen  enough  ! 

Pius  VIL  crowned  the  miraculous  image  in  May, 
1814,  an  event  which  was  commemorated  by  an  in- 
scription. He  fixed  its  anniversary  on  the  second  Sun- 
day of  the  same  month,  and  attached  to  it  the  benefit 
of  a  plenary  indulgence.     Albertini  says,  that  it  would 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  205 

require  too  much  time  to  make  a  catalogue  of  the 
plenary  and  partial  indulgences  granted  by  the  Popes 
Pius  VI.  and  Pius  YIL,  in  favor  of  this  image. 

Bonaparte,  who  arrived  at  Ancona  a  short  time  after 
the  pretended  miracle  had  been  worked,  caused  the 
miraculous  image  to  be  brought  by  the  canons  of  the 
Cathedral  to  the  Palace  Trionfi,  where  he  was  lodged  ; 
and  to  be  stripped  of  all  its  rich  ornaments  and  jewels, 
which  he  gave  over  into  the  hand  of  the  President  of 
the  Municipahty,  in  aid  of  the  poorest  hospital  in  the 
city.  The  lawyer  Bonavia,  a  partisan  of  the  French, 
then  related  to  the  General  all  that  had  taken  place, 
and  corroborated  his  account  by  the  testimony  of  one 
hundred  thousand  persons,  all  present  at  the  perform- 
ance of  the  miracle.  Bonaparte  took  the  image,  and 
looked  at  it  with  the  greatest  attention  for  a  long  time. 

"  It  cannot  be  precisely  asserted,"  says  Albertini, 
"  that  the  Virgin  opened  her  eyes  in  his  presence,  but 
one  cannot  help  at  least  supposing  soJ^  That  great 
man  continued  looking  at  the  image  steadfastly,  and 
suddenly  was  seen  to  change  color.  He  also  made 
gestures  indicative  of  trouble  and  surprise.  "  He  fin- 
ished by  restoring  to  it  all  its  jewels  and  ornaments — 
to  the  great  detriment  of  the  hospitals  and  the  poor, 
whom  this  new  miracle  again  plunged  into  misery — 
and  had  it  replaced  upon  its  accustomed  altar,  where, 
for  greater  awe,  he  ordered  it  to  be  covered  with  a 
veil." 

The  Memoirs  of  Antommarchi  prove  to  us,  that  in 
his  last  moments,  the  Emperor  spoke  with  very  little 
reverence  of  the  Italian  Madonnas. 

"The  miracle  was  afterwards  attested  by  persons  of 
all  classes,  by  rich  and  poor,  by  magistrates  and  pri- 
vate citizens,  by  ecclesiastics  and  laymen,  by  the  devout 
and  the  incredulous,  by  Catholics  and  Protestants,  by 
Infidels  and  Jews,  by  all  nations,  by  all  climes,  by  all 
ranks,  as  is  stated  in  the  certificate  which  is  preserved 
among  the  archives  of  the  venerable  church  of  Ancona.-' 
The  incredulous,  Protestants,  Turks,  and  Jews,  as  lit- 
tle expected  to  figure  among  the  witnesses  of  a  miracle, 

18 


206  SECRETS    OF 

operated  by  and  for  the  profit  of  the  Court  of  Kome,  as 
Napoleon  himself. 

In  September,  the  miracle  continuing  to  be  regularly- 
shown  to  the  curious,  the  Emperor  of  Germany  caused 
a  solemn  procession  to  be  made,  offered  a  rich  gift  in 
wax-lights,  and  appropriated  a  large  sum  of  money  for 
the  celebration  of  masses.  Amelia,  Duchess  of  Parma, 
embroidered  with  her  own  hands  some  valuable  tissues, 
and  sent  tliem  to  the  Holy  Virgin. 

"  The  miracles  of  the  images  of  Ancona,  Rome, 
Civita  Yecchia,  Maurata,  and  Ascoli,  occupy  every 
person's  attention  to  such  a  degree,  that  the  French  are 
no  longer  spoken  of" 

The  wish  to  see  prodigies  naturally  terminates  in 
the  belief  of  them,  and  the  report  of  the  Madonna 
miracles  soon  reached  Florence.  Some  withered  lilies, 
placed  before  an  image  of  the  Virgin,  were  found  next 
day  blown  ;  and  the  Archbishop  Martini,  thinking  this 
a  favorable  occasion  to  give  himself  importance  with 
the  multitude,  went  in  procession  to  transport  the  pre- 
tended miraculous  image  to  the  metropolitan  church. 

From  that  time,  the  Archbishop  Martini  became  the 
apologist  for,  and  propagator  of,  all  the  miracles ;  in 
which  he  reposed  not  the  least  faith  !  but  it  was  a 
certain  method  of  keeping  up  the  ignorance  and  su- 
perstition of  the  people,  and  of  enabling  him,  by  this 
means,  to  let  loose  their  fanaticism,  which  it  was  very 
easy  for  him  to  direct  according  to  his  interests  or  de- 
sires of  vengeance. 

Of  two  of  these  pretended  miracles,  we  give  the  titles. 
It  is  remarkable  that  it  was  always  before  the  entrance, 
or  after  the  departure  of  the  French  troops,  that  the 
miracles  took  place.  While  Tuscany  was  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  Republicans,  the  laws  of  nature  were 
carefully  respected  by  the  saints,  and  by  the  souls  of 
the  other  world. 

1.  '"'An  apologetic  letter  respecting  the  apparition 
of  a  Spirit,  which  happened  in  the  month  of  August, 
1800,  near  the  Hills  of  Rosan,  not  far  from  the  city  of 
Florence,  written  by  the  curate  of  Villamagna,  with 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  207 

the  approbation  of  the  Archbishop  Antoine  Martini, 
Florence,  1800,  with  hcence."  This  was  the  spirit  of 
a  female  peasant,  who  appeared,  we  are  assured,  in  a 
meadow  to  a  shepherdess  to  ask  her  for  some  paters 
and  aves^  which  she  said  she  was  in  want  of,  in  order 
to  get  out  of  purgatory.  As  many  as  ten  thousand 
persons  at  a  time  repaired  to  the  spot  to  find  the  shep- 
herdess, who  maintained  that  she  had  seen  the  spirit. 

2.  "  A  succinct  account  of  the  miraculous  production 
of  oil,  which  took  place,  or  was  discovered,  May,  1806. 
in  the  monastery  of  Maria  deafli  Angeli  and  IMaria 
Maddalena  de  Pazzi,  at  the  intercession  of  Maria  Bar- 
tolommea  Bagnesi,  a  Florentine  viro^in  of  the  third 
order  of  Dominic,  authentically  confirmed  by  a  decree 
of  the  Archiepiscopal  Court  of  Florence,  December, 
1806.  Florence,  1807,  with  approbation."  The  eager 
devotion  of  the  Florentines,  who  were  all  desirous  of 
procuring  the  oil  of  the  lamps  of  Bagnesi,  exhausted 
the  convent.  Santa  Pazzi,  its  abbess,  created  seven 
barrels  at  a  time.  The  dueen  Regent  of  Etruria  has- 
tened, at  the  first  intelligence,  and  got  herself  anoint- 
ed. Martini  g^uaranteed  the  miracle,  and  the  faithful 
prostrated  themselves. 

These  unworthy  means,  however,  did  not  succeed  ; 
and  Rome,  theocratic  as  it  was,  found  herself,  after  all 
her  efforts,  forced  to  become  a  democracy.  Ricci  sin- 
cerely lamented  the  fate  of  the  Pope  ;  but  not  wishing 
to  range  himself  with  either  party,  he  retired  to  his 
villa,  occupyino^  his  leisure  only  with  pious  books,  and 
in  the  composition  of  others,  up  to  the  time  when  the 
French  took  possession  of  Tuscany,  March,  1799. 

Ricci,  speaking  of  the  changes  which  had  taken 
place  at  Rome,  recently  become  a  democratic  Republic, 
says,  that  he  never  doubted  "  that  this  great  good,  of 
which  we  are  now  spectators,  would   happen  to  the 

Church The  opprobrious  name  of  Court  is  at 

length  abolished  :  the  haughty  monarchy  is  now  anni- 
hilated. Would  to  God  that  all  the  old  despots  of  the 
Vatican  lived  contemporaries  v/ith  Pius  VI.,  because, 
chastised  in  their  own  pride,  they  might  prepare  them- 


208  SECRETS    OF 

selves  better  than  they  have  done  for  their  passage  into 
eternity  !" 

He  gives  an  account  of  the  fanatical  tumult  of  the 
Roman  populace,  especially  that  part  of  it  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Tiber,  against  the  Republicans,  to  the  cries 
of  '■^Long  live  Mary^  religion^  and  the  Pope  /"  Many 
lives  were  lost  in  it.  "  What  most  astonishes  me  is, 
that  this  revolt  has  been  entirely  the  work  of  monks 
and  priests.  A  Capuchin,  the  ringleader  of  rebels  ! 
These  are  terms  that  fanaticism  alone  is  capable  of 
reconciling." 

In  a  pamphlet  by  Joseph  Giusti,  July,  1801,  is  the 
following  picture  of  the  situation  of  Tuscany  : 

"  The  irruption  of  the  barbarians  brought  along  with 
it  the  triumph  of  ignorance,  superstition,  anarchy,  and 
crime.  The  priests  taught  to  cover  every  crime  with 
the  veil  of  religion.  The  vilest  wretches  planned  the 
fatal  plot,  the  object  of  which  was  the  annihilation  of 
religion  and  virtue  :  and  a  usurping  Senate  brought 
back  into  our  country  the  dreadful  time  of  Tiberius — 
nothing  was  witnessed  but  scenes  of  horror. 

"  The  most  irreproachable  men  of  all  classes  and 
conditions,  honorable  and  peaceable  citizens,  virtuous 
patricians,  upright  magistrates,  brave  soldiers,  respect- 
able ecclesiastics,  all  men  of  a  superior  talent,  the  glory 
of  their  country,  and  who  in  numberless  instances  had 
merited  well  of  their  country,  perished  wretchedly  either 
by  the  blow  of  the  assassin,  or  at  the  stake  planted  by 
fanaticism.  Others  were  arbitrarily  arrested  and  drag- 
ged before  a  tribunal  of  cannibals  :  there,  without  the 
least  shadow  of  justice,  without  proofs  against  them, 
without  the  means  of  defence,  they  were  subjected 
to  the  most  infamous  penalties,  to  the  gallies,  to  im- 
prisonment in  fortresses,  and  to  banishment.  Others, 
finally,  who  had  with  the  utmost  difficulty  and  danger 
escaped  from  their  ferocious  persecutors,  took  refuge 
in  foreign  countries,  there  to  lead  a  wandering  and 
wretched  life,  carrying  with  them  the  cruel  recollection 
of  the  tyranny  of  an  iniquitous  government,  and  of 
the  ingratitude  of  their  fellow  citizens.     Above  thirty     ^^ 


FEMALE     CONVENTS.  209 

thousand  families  were  victims  of  these  proscriptions  ; 
and  Ferdinand  saw  with  complacency,  from  the  centre 
of  Germany,  the  ruin,  despair,  and  extermination  of  the 
best  of  his  subjects. 

"  All  idea  of  morality  was  overturned  ;  the  public  in- 
struction was  poisoned  at  its  fountain-head,  and  every 
idea  of  humanity  and  justice  was  annihilated.  Insur- 
rection, anarchy,  and  massacre,  were  openly  preached 
by  the  ministers  of  the  sanctuary,  were  represented  as 
conscientious  duties  by  a  thousand  inflammatory  wri- 
ters, and  were  authorized  and  encouraged  by  the  Go- 
vernment itself 

"  Such  was  the  state  of  Tuscany,  in  October,  1800, 
on  which  day  the  approach  of  the  Republicans  forced 
the  most  notorious  authors  of  these  excesses,  cowardly 
to  take  to  flight,  leaving  Tuscany  to  be  governed  by 
their  own  sub-delegates,  the  only  instructions  given  to 
them  being,  to  endeavor  as  much  as  possible  to  keep 
up  the  system  which  they  had  themselves  established. 

'  Those  creatures  of  a  fugitive  General  and  Regency 
— creatures,  whose  authority  was  contrary  to  all  the 
rules  of  policy  respected  by  the  conqueror  after  the  oc- 
cupation of  Tuscany,  continued  to  foment  the  popular 
fanaticism,  and  to  prepare  the  country  for  a  general 
rising.  But  French  generosity  was  at  length  exhaust- 
ed, atjd  it  was  resolved,  if  necessary,  to  join  to  the  old 
governors  three  persons  more  worthy  of  confidence." 

After  having  seen  the  crimes  of  the  insurgents  of 
faith  and  legitimacy,  it  will  be  well  to  observe  the 
solicitude  of  the  Government  to  reward  their  horrible 
services. 

"  Circular  instruction  to  all  the  commissioners  crea- 
ted by  the  decree,  Motu  jii^oprio,  of  February,  1800." 
The  decree  of  last  February  declares,  that  his  Royal 
Highness  has  established  a  commission,  charo;ed  with 
examining  the  merit  of  the  individuals  who  have, 
during  the  insurrection  of  the  Aretines,  or  after  they 
had  exhibited  this  great  example,  given  proofs  either 
of  military  valor  or  of  political  prudence,  by  giving 
birth  to,  fomenting  and  exciting  the  rising  against  the 

18* 


210  SECRETS  OF 

enemy  in  any  of  the  provinces  of  the  Grand  Duchy. 
The  said  commission  will  draw  up  an  account  of  the 
deeds  which  have  rendered  illustrious,  during  this  pe- 
riod, not  only  the  town  of  Arezzo,  but  also  all  the  other 
towns,  boroughs,  and  villages  of  Tuscany,  pointing  out 
the  names  of  persons  the  most  deserving  of  reward,  as 
well  as  those  who  have  lost  their  lives  during  that  in- 
terval. 

Ricci  happened  to  be  at  Florence  at  the  time  of  the 
entrance  of  the  French  troops,  and  therefore  could  not 
retire  to  his  villa,  as  the  new  Government  had  directed 
that  no  one  should  be  allowed  to  leave  the  city,  in  or- 
der to  prevent  emigration.  This  compelled  him  to  be 
a  witness  of  the  fanaticism  of  Leopold's  Government. 
The  insurrection  of  Arezzo  was  a  grand  event  for  that 
party.  Religious  enthusiasm  made  the  rebels  elect  the 
•pretended  7niraculous  Madonna  their  generalissimo  ; 
and  under  her  standard,  they  followed  the  Republican 
stragglers,  whom  these  wandering  hordes  massacred 
without  mercy,  and  plundered  with  safe  consciences. 
The  linage  of  the  Virgiii  v:as  the  standard  of  assas- 
sination, and  rohhery  ! 

The  band  directed  their  steps  towards  Florence, 
where  Ricci's  name  was  already  at  the  head  of  a  list 
of  victims  to  the  monks,  the  priests,  and  the  grandees, 
formed  before  the  arrival  of  the  hordes  of  Arezzo.  The 
Leoj)oldists  were  especially  in  danger ;  and  the  insur- 
gents came  twice  to  the  villa  of  the  prelate,  where  they 
hoped  to  find  him.  They  failed,  however,  in  their 
search  at  that  place,  but  the  unfortunate  Bishop  was 
arrested  at  his  house  m  Florence,  in  July,  1799,  and 
next  day  transferred  to  the  prison  da  Basso,  where  the 
French  prisoners  were  confined,  and  where  they  were 
treated  by  the  Aretines  with  so  much  inhumanity,  that 
the  prelate,  in  their  mutinies,  often  ran  the  risk  of  be- 
ing massacred. 

The  Aretines  had  no  sentiments  of  hatred  towards 
Ricci,  of  whom  they  had  perhaps  never  heard ;  and 
he  thought  he  might  probably  obtain  his  release  by 
writing  to  the  Archbishop  of  Florence  and  the  Bishop 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  211 

of  Fiesole,  to  explain  his  situation,  appealing  to  them 
as  one  of  their  brethren.  The  dark  counsellors  of 
Martini  advised  the  Archbishop  to  pay  a  visit  to  Ricci, 
and  to  try  by  threats,  promises,  or  reproaches,  to  en- 
gage him  to  a  recantation  of  his  opinions,  and  thus  to 
remove  from  him  all  that  was  left  him — his  honor. 

Martini  followed  this  advice ;  and  after  describmg 
to  Ricci  the  dangerous  feeling  in  the  public  mind,  he 
recommended  him  to  accept  the  Bull  Auctorem  Fidei; 
and  concluded  by  reproaching  him  with  the  sanction 
he  had  given  to  the  civil  constitution  of  the  French 
clergy,  &c. 

Ricci  began  to  be  intimidated,  and  asked  counsel  of 
Martini  himself,  who,  seeing  what  might  be  made  of 
the  prisoner,  paid  him  a  second  visit,  in  which,  with 
extreme  mildness,  he  urged  the  same  arguments,  which 
gained  over  the  unfortunate  prelate  so  far,  as  to  lead 
him  to  consent  to  write  a  letter  declaratory  of  his  co- 
incidence with  Martini's  opinions. 

This  document,  however  important  to  the  defenders 
of  the  old  abuses,  was  not  regarded  as  strong  enough. 
Martini  took  it  upon  him  to  say  to  Ricci  in  what  it 
was  deficient;  and  the  Bishop  had  the  weakness  not 
only  to  yield,  but  to  request  that  Martini  would  correct 
the  letter  in  his  own  way.  After  this  was  obtained, 
Martini  refused^  to  take  any  concern  in  Ricci'' s  affairs: 
he  even  refused  to  send  Ricci^s  letter  to  the  Pope,  and 
altogether  ceased  his  visits  to  him  !  The  ex-Bishop 
was  detained  nearly  a  month  at  the  fortress  da  Basso. 

The  excesses  committed  by  the  Aretines  had  roused 
even  theindigDation  of  the  Germans,  for  whose  advan- 
tage they  committed  them.  General  Klenau  ordered 
them  to  quit  Florence,  under  the  pretence  that  they 
were  required  to  raise  the  siege  of  Perugia,  which. was 
still  in  the  power  of  the  French.  But  they  liked  better 
to  pillage  the  Jews,  and  to  remain  in  excellent  garri- 
sons ;  accordingly  they  said  openly,  that  as  they  had 
fulfilled  what  they  styled  their  glorious  mission,  they 
had  no  reason  to  march  farther.     They  soon  however 


212  SECRETS  OF 

dissolved^  as  it  was  likely,  from  their  want  of  disci- 
pline, they  would. 

The  commandant  of  the  fort  where  Ricci  was  con- 
fined, finding  no  charge  against  him,  ordered  his  liber- 
ation ;  but  the  Senate  of  Tuscany  seemed  to  hRve 
aroused  all  the  fury  of  the  brigands  of  Arezzo  ;  for 
when  Ricci,  after  recovering  from  his  prison  malady, 
went  to  visit  the  Archbishop  of  Florence,  the  latter, 
after  cruelly  boasting  of  the  absolute  authority  which 
had  been  granted  him  over  the  arrested  ecclesiastics, 
told  him  that  the  people  were  not  well  pleased  to  see 
him  at  liberty,  and  recommended  him  to  retire  to  any 
convent  of  the  capital  which  he  might  choose.  Ricci 
proposed  to  go  to  the  Fathers  of  the  Mission  ;  but  they 
were  cowardly  enough  to  refuse  him.  He  next  chose 
the  Convent  of  the  Dominicans,  at  Mark. 

Here  Ricci  was  treated  exactly  like  a  prisoner  of  the 
Inquisition.  He  had  only  a  miserable  cell  allowed 
him ;  all  the  comforts  of  life  were  refused  him ;  the 
monks  fled  from  his  presence,  and  he  could  scarcely 
obtain  the  privilege  of  saying  mass  in  one  of  their 
private  oratories.  This  was  an  inner  chapel,  which 
the  Dominicans  of  Mark  had  caused  to  be  magnificendy 
constructed  and  embellished,  in  honor  of  Savonarola, 
close  to  the  little  rooms  which  had  formerly  been  his 
cells.  Over  the  entrance-door  is  still  to  be  read  this 
Latin  inscription :  "  Has  cellulas  Ven.  P.  P.  Hiero- 
nymus  Savonarola^  vir  aiJostolicus,  inhahitavitP — 
•'  These  cells  were  inhabited  by  the  apostolic  Hierony- 
rtius  Savonarola^ 

During  his  stay  at  the  Convent  of  Mark,  the  Bishop 
of  Pistoia  made  some  extracts  from  the  manuscripts 
which  he  found  in  the  library,  relative  to  that  Jieretic 
saint ! 

Amongst  others,  is  a  letter  written  March,  1495,  by 
the  magistrates  of  the  Republic  of  Florence,  to  Richard 
Becchi,  its  ambassador  at  the  Court  of  Pope  Alexan- 
der YL,  to  thank  him  for  the  pains  he  had  taken  to 
procure  permission  that  Savonarola  might  continue  to 
preach  in  their  capital.     Mention  is  therein  made  of 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  213 

"falsities  and  calumnies  which  envious  and  wicked 
men  are  continually  inventing  and  disseminating 
abroad,  respecting  Brother  Jerome  Savonarola.  Not 
only,  add  the  magistrates,  has  this  brother  been 
attacked,  but  we  ourselves  have  been  strongly  sus- 
pected, as  you  write  us,  of  suffering  Brother  Jerome,  in 
his  sermons,  to  speak  to  us  in  no  very  honorable  terms, 
and  without  any  respect  in  public,  of  the  Church,  and 
of  our  Lord,  the  Pope.  Wherefore  it  appears  to  us 
just,  as  it  is  necessary,  to  let  you  clearly  understand, 
that  Brother  Savonarola,  in  his  sermons,  has  never  to 
this  day  overstepped  the  limits  traced  by  propriety,  and 
which  a  kind  of  tacit  convention  generally  opposes  to 
the  boldness  of  preachers.  This,  however,  does  not 
prevent  these  orators  from  condemning  vices  in  gene- 
ral, pointing  out  the  errors  of  the  great,  and  making 
sinners  tremble,  by  a  lively  and  seasonable  description 
of  the  Divine  punishments  which  threaten  them.  If 
Brother  Jerome  had,  in  the  least  degree,  exceeded  the 
limits  of  which  we  have  just  spoken,  in  all  which  con- 
cerns the  sanctity  of  our  Lord,  we  would  not  have 
permitted  him  on  any  account  to  have  preached  in 
future." 

In  April  of  the  same  year,  the  magistrates  wrote  to 
the  Neapolitan  Cardinal,  the  patron  of  the  order  of 
Dominic,  that  they  had  so  great  a  veneration  for  the 
Prior  of  Mark,  Brother  Savonarola,  that  they  thought 
they  could  do  no  good  thing,  unless  exhorted  to  it  by 
that  monk.  "  For  the  piety  of  this  man  is  admirable, 
his  life  spotless,  his  doctrine  excellent.  But  what  is 
above  all  that  can  be  said,  a  still  rarer  merit,  and  one 
which  we  equally  acknowledge  in  him,  is,  that  he  is 
inspired  by  a  Divine  spirit.  He  has  not  only  predicted 
the  common  and  ordinary  things  which  have  hitherto 
happened  to  us,  but  has  forewarned  us,  in  his  sermons, 
of  the  most  extraordinary  events,  such  as  we  could 
have  least  expected,  long  before  they  took  place.  It  is 
impossible  to  express  how  useful  his  sermons  are  to  us, 
as  much  for  the  salvation  of  our  souls,  as  for  the 
tranquillity  of  our  Republic." 


214  SECRETS    OF 

A  third  letter  from  the  Florentine  magistrates  is 
addressed  to  Pope  Alexander  YI.  himself,  entreating 
him  to  allow  Savonarola  to  reside  among  them.  It  is 
the  most  honorable  testimony  of  the  piety,  learning, 
purity  of  morals,  and  holiness  of  life  of  Brother  Jerome, 
and  a  refutation  of  the  calumnies  invented  for  his  de- 
struction.    This  letter  is  dated  September,  1495. 

Then  follow  the  fragments  of  some  letters  from 
Anthony  Magliabechi  to  Theophihis  Spizelius,  a  Pro- 
testant minister  of  the  Church  of  Auofsburo: : 

"  With  respect  to  the  accusations  against  Savonarola, 
they  are  futile,  and  without  the  least  foundation.  As 
a  man,  as  a  Christian,  as  a  monk,  as  a  preacher,  he  was 
compelled  to  take  part  in  public  aifairs ;  for  all  was 
hastening  on  to  ruin  ;  and  not  only  were  the  morals 
much  relaxed,  but  even  atheism  triumphed  so  auda- 
ciously, that  many  writings,  whose  sole  object  was  to 
turn  the  Holy  Scriptures  into  ridicule,  were  printed 
over  and  over  again,  such  as  the  Sonnets  of  the  Canon 
Pulci  and  others.  Thousands  of  holy  men  have  done 
the  same  thing,  in  times  much  less  demanding  their 
interference  than  those  in  which  Savonarola  lived. 

''  To  say  that  he  was  desirous  of  courting  interest 
and  favor,  is  one  of  the  greatest  falsehoods  ever  heard. 
Had  he  desired  honors,  he  would  have  flattered  the 
House  of  Medicis,  and  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  Alexan- 
der VI.,  who  had  promised  him,  if  he  retracted,  a  car- 
dinal's hat, 

"  The  trial  of  Savonarola  now  in  circulation,  is  falsi- 
fied and  garbled.  That  was  the  reason  why  it  was 
not  read  in  Savonarola's  presence — a  circumstance 
which  scandalized  the  people  much,  but  in  which  his 
judges  took  not  the  least  concern.  I  have  made  every 
possible  effort  to  get  a  sight  of  the  genuine  trial,  but 
always  in  vain.  Patriarca,  who  was  employed  in  the 
fiscal  chamber,  and  who  had  all  these  documents  in 
his  trust,  told  me  he  had  seen  in  some  old  memoirs, 
that  this  trial  had  been  immediately  taken  away,  and 
that  the  enemies  of  the  monk  had  either  torn  it  in 
pieces,  or  burnt  it.      They  then  published  an  interpo- 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  215 

lated  and  altered  trial ;  and  in  order  to  prevent  their 
fraud  froin  being  discovered-  they  destroyed  the  real 
one,  in  order  to  remove  every  possibility  of  comparing 
the  two  trials,  and  discovering  their  iniquity  /" 

la  the  midst  of  the  Bishop's  sufferings,  Pius  VI.  died. 
Martini  advised  Ricci  to  write  to  his  successor ;  and 
one  of  the  Dominicans  engaged  the  Nuncio  to  visit 
him,  in  order  to  procure  a  dishonorable  recantation  of 
all  his  opinions.  Ricci  refused  the  Nuncio's  inter- 
ference :  the  latter  withdrew  in  anger.  Martini  was 
jealous  of  the  Nuncio,  and  refused  any  longer  to  inter- 
est himself  in  the  fate  of  his  colleague. 

The  health  of  Ricci  was  visibly  injured,  owing  io 
the  suspense  in  which  he  was  held,  and  the  perfidy  of 
his  pretended  friends.  He  also  heard  that  it  was  at 
the  Archbishop's  instigation  that  the  Dominicans  re- 
fused to  allow  him  to  officiate  in  their  Church,  thus 
authorizing  the  Florentines  to  regard  him  as  a  danger- 
ous heretic,  a  person  to  be  shunned.  However,  ho 
bore  all  patiently,  and  passed  the  greater  part  of  his 
time  in  the  library  or  his  cloister,  in  perusing  the  works 
of  those  fathers  who  most  coincided  with  his  opinions. 

Under  these  circumstances,  instead  of  receiving  any 
assistance  or  consolation  from  his  family,  he  was  per- 
secuted even  by  his  OAvn  brother,  the  Senator  Ricci, 
Avho  finally  succeeded  in  suspending  the  payment  of 
the  pension  assigned  to  him  by  the  Grand-ducal 
Government  till  after  the  decision  of  his  trial.  All 
these  vexations  had  such  an  effect  on  the  spirits  of 
Ricci,  that  his  physicians,  dreading  a  long  and  danger- 
ous malady,  applied  to  the  Senate  for  permission 
to  have  Ricci  transported  to  his  country-house,  as 
good  air  and  quiet  were  the  only  remedies  for  his 
disorder. 

The  Senate  declared  that  they  had  never  given 
any  orders  for  the  arrest  of  Ricci.  The  physicians 
then  addressed  themselves  to  the  Archbishop,  who  had 
always  pleaded  orders  from  Government  to  that  effect; 
but  he  referred  them  again  to  the  Senate,  as  Ricci's 
affair  regarded  a  prisoner  accused  of  revolutionary 


216  SECRETS    OF 

opinions.  This  was  the  first  time  such  an  accusation 
had  been  made ;  for  Martini  had  assured  the  Bishop, 
when  detained  at  Basso,  that  he  was  only  suspected  of 
erroneous  opinions  on  religion. 

But  the  difficulties  made  by  Martini  to  Ricci's  en- 
largement, were  not  the  only  ones  he  had  to  encoun- 
ter;  for  his  brother  required  that,  before  allowing  him 
to  quit  Mark,  all  the  examinations  should  be  gone 
through  of  all  the  persons  suspected,  about  32,000,  in 
order  to  be  sure  that  the  Bishop  was  not  implicated 
with  some  of  them.  This  delay  must  have  occasioned 
the  death  of  Ricci,  had  not  some  senators,  less  cruel, 
taken  advantage  of  the  temporary  absence  of  Martini, 
to  set  the  Bishop  at  liberty  on  the  following  condi- 
tions, and  allow  him  to  return  to  his  villa : — 

That  he  should  leave  the  convent  in  the  night. — 
That  he  should  only  stay  a  few  hours  at  his  house  at 
Florence. — That  he  should  not  keep  up  any  corres- 
pondence whatever. — That  he  should  promise  to  yield 
himself  prisoner,  whenever  he  should  be  required  by 
the  Senate. 

The  extensive  correspondence  of  Ricci  would  natur- 
ally alarm  the  tyrants,  who  could  ouly  work  in  that 
darkness  to  which  they  are  indebted  for  their  existence. 

The  follavving  singular  letters  bear  testimon^^  to  the 
truth  of  what  we  advance. 

Isacarus,  a  Bethlemite,  wrote  to  Ricci  from  Rome, 
March,  1798. 

He  requests  Ricci's  answers  to  Marchetti's  A?inota- 
tions  Pacifiques.  He  then  complains  of  the  persecu- 
tions to  which  he  is  himself  exposed  at  Rome,  from 
priests  who  were  there  called ^oo^  Christians,  but  who 
were  in  reality  only  Freethinkers,  es'pr  its  forts. 

From  Caietan  Victorin  de  Faria,  a  Paulist  monk,  at 
Lisbon  ;  1798.  Faira  was  a  Brahmin,  and  was  con- 
verted to  Catholicism.  His  wife  being  dead,  he  and 
his  two  sons  entered  into  the  priesthood  at  Genoa  ;  his 
third  son  was  made  Deacon.  All  four  went  over  to 
Lisbon,  where  they  lived  in  the  convent  of  the 
Paulists. 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  217 

"  The  regular  clergy  in  India,"  says  he,  '•  have  be- 
comej  towards  the  end  of  the  18th  century,  what  the 
bonzes  were  at  Japan  :  the  nuns  were  the  disciples  of 
Diana,  and  their  nunneries  seraglios  for  the  monks;  as 
I  have  proved  to  be  the  case  in  Lisbon,  by  facts  which 
I  have  produced  respectinor  those  nuns,  who  were  more 
often  in  the  family-way  than  the  common  women." 

"  The  Jesuits  made  themselves  Brachmans  in  the 
Indies,  in  order  to  enjoy  the  privileges  of  that  caste, 
whose  idolatrous  rites  and  superstitious  practices  they 
had  also  adopted."  He  then  explains  in  what  consist- 
ed the  principal  privileges  which  the  religious  mern- 
bers  of  that  society  had  acquired  by  this  means  ; 
namely,  ''of  having  free  ingress  to  all  the  Indian 
Courts ;  of  being  never  put  to  death  for  any  crime 
whatever ;  and  of  enjoying  the  favors  of  every  wo- 
man who  i^leased  them.,  it  being  commonly  received, 
that  a  Brachman  jjriest  sanctifies  the  looinan  ichoni 
he  honors  with  his  attentions''^  The  Paulist  monk 
speaks  from  experience,  for  he  had  himself  been  a 
Brachman  before  embracing  the  Christian  religion. 

Ricci  had  scarcely  arrived  in  the  country  Avhen  he 
recovered  his  health.  He  wrote  to  Martini,  who  replied 
only  by  a  few  lines,  requiring  a  recantation.  Ricci 
replied,  that  he  was  still  of  the  same  opinion  he  had 
expressed  to  him  and  in  the  letter  he  had  written  to 
the  Pope  ;  and  concluded  by  professing  the  purity  of 
his  intention  in  all  his  reforms,  and  expressing  his 
regret  if  they  should  have  been  premature  or  the  cause 
of  scandal. 

Martini  replied,  that  he  had  not  had  time  to  read 
the  long  letter  of  Ricci,  but  urged  him  to  write  to  the 
new  Pope.  Ricci  was  grieved  at  the  way  in  which 
he  was  treated  by  his  former  colleague,  but  promised 
to  follow  his  advice  as  soon  as  the  new  Pontiff  should 
be  elected. 

After  this,  for  several  months  he  continued  an  iso- 
lated being,  shunned  by  every  one,  and  persecuted  by 
his  enemies,  who  wished  to  deny  him  even  the  conso- 
lation of  performing  his  devotions  in  the  church.    This 
19 


218  SECRETS    or 

tyranny  lasted  a  year ;  and  then  they  began  to  prepare' 
false  documents,  and  bribe  false  witnesses,  to  support 
their  accusations  and  justify  their  ill-treatment  of  Riccij 
on  his  approaching  trial  at  Florence.  Tho  Archbishop 
wished  to  have  Ricci  condemned  as  a  person  guilty  of 
holding  antimonarchical  opinions  ;  but  if  this  should 
fail  as  was  likely,  he  reserved  to  himself  the  right  of 
sending  him  to  Rome  to  be  punished  by  his  natural 
enemies.  On  his  trial,  impunity  was  promised  to  the 
guilty  of  all  descriptions  toho  sJiotdd  77iake  any  accu- 
sation against  Ricci !  He  was  to  be  found  guilty,  in 
some  way  or  other  ;  but  in  spite  of  these  infamous  and 
illegal  proceedings,  the  Chancellor  was  obliged  to 
acknowledge  that  there  was  no  crime  proved  against 
R.  His  persecutors  were  not  yet  satisfied  :  he  was  not 
yet  set  at  liberty ;  for  they  adjourned  the  trial  in  order 
that  their  victim  might  not  escape  them ;  and  this  proof 
of  their  malignity  gave  a  shock  both  to  the  health  and 
mind  of  Ricci,  which  he  did  not  recover  for  the  remain- 
ing ten  years  of  his  life. 

The  wretched  intrigues  employed  to  disturb  the  last 
moments  of  Abbe  Mengoni,  who  spontaneously  and 
publicly  declared  his  orthodoxy  and  unalterable  attach- 
ment to  the  unity  of  the  Church,  proves  to  demonstra- 
tion that  the  spirit  of  the  Court  of  Rome  and  its  agents, 
is  the  same  in  all  times  and  in  all  places^  and  that  it 
avails  itself  of  the  most  trifling  circumstances,  as  well 
as  of  the  most  important  events,  to  extend  the  fatal 
influence  of  that  ignorance  and  fanaticism,  upon  which 
is  founded  the  Papal  power. 

Canon  Joseph  Mancini,  now  Bishop  of  Massa,  and 
at  that  time  Yicar-general  of  the  Archbishop  of  Flo- 
rence, commissioned  a  priest  named  Mirri,  a  speculat- 
ing theologian,  to  avail  himself  of  the  weakness  of  the 
sick  man  in  order  to  obtain  a  recantation. 

The  formula  he  was  required  to  sign,  contained  the 
acceptation  of  all  that  had  been  determined  upon  at  the 
Council  of  Trent;  of  all  that  the  Church  had  decided 
upon  respecting  grace  and  ivQe  will  ;  tlie  Bulls  of  Pius 
v.,  Gregory  XHL,  Urban  VHL,  Alexander  VII.,  &c., 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  219 

and  especially  those  known  by  the  names  of  Unigeni- 
tiis  super  Soliditate  and  Aiictorein  Fidei ;  the  confes- 
sion of  the  belief  that  the  Pope  has  the  precedence  in 
honor  and  jurisdiction  over  all  the  Church,  and  that 
the  Roman  Chnrch  is  the  mother  and  mistress  of  all 
the  others  ;  finally,  the  condemnation  of  the  errors  of 
the  incredulous  and  licentious  in  matters  of  religion, 
in  the  same  manner  as  they  are  condemned  by  the 
Church,  as  well  as  that  of  the  propositions  anathema- 
tized by  the  said  Bulls,  in  the  same  plain  and  natural 
sense  as  has  hitherto  dictated  anathemas  of  the  Sove- 
reign Pontiffs. 

Abbe  Mengoni  resisted  ;  and  having  learnt,  by  the 
reports  spread  among  the  people  at  the  instigation  of 
his  vindictive  colleague,  that  he  was  made  to  pass  for 
an  excommunicated  person,  to  whom  the  Archbishop 
even  intended  to  deny  the  administration  of  the  viati- 
cum, he  wrote  to  that  same  Archbishop,  October,  1815, 
and  said,  that  he  not  only  had  always  been,  and  still 
was  a  good  Catholic,  but  that  his  most  earnest  wish 
was  to  die  in  the  communion  of  the  faithful,  in  which 
he  had  always  lived. 

He  wrote  the  same  day  to  the  Yicar  Mancini,  and 
asked  him  "if  he  required  him  to  disgrace  himself  by 
a  falsehood,  by  confessing  himself  guilty  of  a  crime, 
of  which  indeed  he  was  accused,  but  which  he  was 
convinced  he  had  not  committed  :  a  circumstance 
which  no  one  could  know  better  than  himself." 

Morali,  the  then  existing  Archbishop,  insisted  upon 
obtaining  the  required  retractation,  which  it  ivas  hoped, 
might  he  coupled  loith  that  of  Bishop  Ricci,  in  order 
to  complete  the  victory  gained  by  the  Court  of  Rome. 
Seeing,  at  length,  that  all  his  efforts  were  useless,  he 
dared  not  take  farther  advantage  of  the  restoration  of 
legitimacy  in  his  country.  The  Abbe  Mengoni  re- 
ceived the  viaticum  from  the  hands  of  his  confessor, 
the  Curate  of  Gervais.  The  Prior  of  Marco  Yecchio 
alleged  many  frivolous  excuses  to  avoid  performing 
this  office,  and  requested  the  curate  to  be  his  substi- 
tute on  the  occasion. 


220  SECRETS    OF 

Another  retractation  took  place ;  that  of  an  Abbe 
Panieri,  a  canon  of  the  cathedral  of  Pistoia,  Avho  con- 
demned and  reproved  the  doctrine  which  he  had  taught 
under  Ricci,  concerninof  the  sacrament  of  marriao^e 
and  the  dispensations  from  ecclesiastical  hindrances. 

This  retractation,  written  by  the  canon's  own  hand, 
March,  1S20,  was  addressed  by  him  with  a  letter  to 
Marchetti  d'Empoli,  the  apologist  for  the  miracles  at 
the  close  of  the  last  century,  which  were  both  imme- 
diately printed  at  Rome,  by  De  Romains,  ivith  permis- 
sion of  the  higher  powers  ;  and  several  hundred  copies 
were  sent  to  Florence.  It  did  not,  however,  succeed 
in  stirring  up  ancient  feuds  for  a  long  time  forgotten. 
The  Government,  aware  of  its  turbulent  intentions, 
ordered  the  packet  to  be  seized  on  the  frontiers,  and 
committed  to  the  flames. 

As  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  election  of  Pius  YII.  as 
Pope,  Ricci,  who  knew  the  moderation  of  his  disposi- 
tion as  Cardinal,  conceived  some  hope  of  a  termination 
to  his  sniferinofs.  He  wrote  a  letter  to  the  PontiiF,  in 
which  he  expressed  his  entire  submission  to  the  Apos- 
tolic Chair,  and  the  Pope  occupying  it,  and  justified 
his  opinions  as  orthodox.  His  letter  was  dated  March, 
1800. 

Gonsalvi,  the  Pro-secretary  of  State,  acknowledged 
the  receipt  of  this  letter,  but  made  no  reply  to  its  con- 
tents. The  answer  was  deferred  for  ten  whole  months, 
— an  interval  which  was  not  unemployed  by  the  ene- 
mies of  the  Tuscan  prelate,  who  did  every  thing  in 
their  power  to  render  Ricci  odious  to  the  new  Pope. 
The  Florentine  Senate  was  equally  active  in  prepar- 
ing contradictory  evidence  of  all  kinds  against  Ricci  ; 
and  the  Nuncio,  thinking  the  opportunity  favorable,  in- 
sisted that  the  Government  should  send  him  to  Rome. 
It  was  precisely  at  this  time,  that  the  "  menacing  letter" 
of  Gonsalvi  arrived.  It  required  of  Ricci  a  recanta- 
tion of  his  errors,  and  those  of  his  Synod — his  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  Bull  Auctorem  Pidei — of  pro- 
found submission  to  the  Pope,  and  a  confession  of  his 
repentance.     The  Nuncio's  secretary,   who  delivered 


FEMALE     CONVENTS.  221 

the  letter,  was  to  add  to  it  verbally^  that  the  contents 
were  known  to  the  Tuscan  Regency,  who  ur^^ed  the 
ex-Bishop  to  comply  with  its  demands,  under  pain  of 
being-  given  up  to  the  Nuncio,  and  shut  up  for  life  in 
the  Castle  of  Angelo. 

Ricci  was  unwilling  to  declare  all  the  acts  of  his 
episcopacy  improper,  seeing  that  they  had  all  been 
sanctioned  by  the  Grand  Duke.  He  communicated 
his  scruples  to  the  Government,  but  no  answer  was 
ever  given  ;  so  that  he  must  have  been  betrayed  into 
the  snare  laid  for  him,  had  not  the  victorious  French 
re-entered  Italy,  and  saved  him  from  the  danger.  This 
was  the  more  imminent,  as  Ricci  was  now  rather  dis- 
posed to  diminish  the  concessions  he  had  made,  than 
to  make  others. 

Eleven  days  before  the  French  entered  Florence,  he 
received  a  copy  of  the  political  accusations  made 
against  him  :  to  which  he  replied  immediately  by  a 
letter,  in  which  he  protested  hjs  attachment  to  his 
Prince,  and  complained  of  the  aifferings  he  had  en- 
dured so  long. 

On  the  entrance  of  the  French  into  Florence,  Octo- 
ber, 1800,  all  the  persecutors  fled,  together  with  the 
Pontifical  Nuncio,  who  was  at  their  head.  That 
emissary  had  been  charged  to  extort  from  Ricci,  with 
the  aid  of  the  Tuscan  Government,  a  dishonorable  re- 
cantation of  all  his  acts  and  opinions ;  but  times  had 
now  changed,  and  fear  of  the  victorious  French  led 
him  to  write  a  very  mild  letter  to  Ricci,  requesting 
merely  a  simple  assurance  of  his  submission  to  the 
Pope.  This  he  imm2diately  complied  with,  adding  his 
acknowledgments  of  entire  accordance  with  the  Roman 
Church  in  matters  of  faith,  and  his  abhorrence  of 
schism.  He  occupied  his  time  during  his  respite  from 
persecution,  in  preparing  a  reply  to  the  Bull  Anctorem 
Fide?,  in  which  he  proved,  that  this  Bull  only  con- 
demns what  was  condemned  by  the  Synod  of  Pistoia. 

The  weak  xVustrian  Government  o^  four  was,  about 
that  time,  replaced  by  a  French  triumvirate ;  who,  as 
soon  as  thev  discovered  the  32,000  processes  and  accu- 

19* 


222  SECRETS    OF 

sations,  condemned  them  to  be  publicly  burnt.  Ricci's 
was  sent  to  him,  and  "  from  it,"  says  he,  "  I  discovered 
that  I  had  been  detained  at  Mark's  by  means  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Floren ce.  Nihil  tarn  occultuni  quod  non 
revelahitur. — Nothing  is  so  hidden  that  it  shall  not  he 
revealed  P''  The  French  Government  expressed  the 
utmost  esteem  for  the  person  of  Ricci,  and  regrets  for 
the  unworthy  persecutions  of  which  he  had  been  the 
victim.  Ricci  demanded  an  acknowledgment  of  the 
falsehood  of  the  accusations  against  him,  which  the 
Secretary  of  the  Crown  could  not  refuse.  He  then  re- 
tired to  his  villa,  where  he  employed  himself  in  his 
usual  occupations,  with  country  amusements,  and  in 
the  improvement  both  of  the  face  of  the  country,  and 
the  indigent  laborers  on  his  land. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

Louis  I.,   King"  of  Etruria. — Treaty  with  the  Pope  for  Ricci. — Their 
Reconciliation. 

Ricci  had  formed  the  best  opinion  of  Louis  I.  of 
Etruria ;  but  that  King,  entirely  governed  by  his 
courtiers,  Ventura  and  Salvatico,  instead  of  showing 
the  philosophical  virtues  which  had  been  ascribed  to 
him,  appeared  from  the  time  of  his  entry  into  Florence 
a  bigoted  fanatic  and  tyrant,  whose  character  soon  re- 
vived the  popular  murmurs  which  had  before  disturbed 
the  capital. 

The  public  was  menaced  with  all  the  dangers  which 
could  result  from  the  evil  influence  of  the  Capuchin 
Turchi,  a  prelate  as  violent  and  ambitious  in  his  ex- 
alted station,  as  he  had  been  mild  and  reasonable  as  a 
priest.  He  had  signalized  his  episcopacy  by  seditious 
homilies,  which  had  been  published  at  Parma,  against 
the  ecclesiastical  reforms  of  the  Grand  Duke  Leopold, 


FEMALE    CONVENTS,  223 

and  Ricci.  The  new  Court,  on  entering  Tuscany, 
appeared  to  take  no  step  without  expressing  its  wrath 
against  this  devoted  land.  The  ancient  Bishop  of 
Pistoia  had  no  reason,  therefore,  to  be  astonished,  on 
finding  himself  refused,  by  the  Counts  Ventura  and 
Salvatico,  the  audience  which  he  had  requested  them 
to  obtain  for  him  from  the  King  their  master.  The 
latter,  on  hearing  the  name  of  Ricci  pronounced,  had 
already,  with  some  degree  of  naivete,  asked  his  courtiers 
if  it  was  Ricci  the  heretic. 

Scarcely  had  the  reign  of  ignorance  and  impotence 
thus  commenced,  when  Rome  boldly  preferred  all  her 
former  pretensions  to  authority.  The  Nuncio  Morozzo 
imperiously  demanded  of  Ricci  the  accustomed  recan- 
tation. The  Government  produced  a  plan  for  an  In- 
quisition of  the  Faith,  on  the  same  footing  as  the  fero- 
cious Inquisition  of  Spain ;  it  was  proposed  that  the 
reading  of  controversial  works  should  be  forbidden,  and 
that  the  partisans  of  the  ancient  reforms  should  be 
driven  into  exile.  Happily  for  Tuscany,  the  French 
Minister  at  Florence  never  ceased  exclaiming  against 
the  absurd  measures  of  this  unenlightened  and  impru- 
dent Government.  The  fear  which  his  influence  oc- 
casioned, prevented  the  monks  from  precipitating  their 
designs,  and  raised -an  insurmountable  obstacle  to  the 
machinations  of  the  Nuncio  against  the  ex-Bishop  of 
Pistoia. 

This,  however,  could  not  prevent  the  publication  of 
the  law  of  April,  1802,  which  the  fanatical  party  had 
taken  care  to  keep  secret,  in  order  to  avoid  opposition. 
This  law  had  for  its  end  the  destruction  of  all  useful 
reforms  and  the  ruin  of  all  reformers.  It  abolished  at 
one  blow  the  ecclesiastical  rules,  of  whatever  kind 
they  were,  which  had  been  published  since  the  time  of 
the  Emperor  Francis  I.  They  loaded  the  Govern- 
ments which  had  shown  any  inclination  to  religious 
reform,  with  the  most  injurious  epithets.  They  de- 
prived the  Prince  for  ever  of  all  power  and  influence 
over  the  persons  and  possessions  of  the  clergy  ;  they 
took  from  the  bishops  their  legitimate  and  inalienable 


224  SECRETS    OF 

Spiritual  authority,  to  give  them  a  temporal  authority 
which  they  can  and  ought  never  to  possess  ;  they  ex- 
posed the  Tuscans  to  the  twofold  despotism  of  the 
Roman  Court ;  they  declared  the  reforms  which  had 
been  made  in  Tuscany  to  be  illegal  and  heretical ;  and 
lastly,  the  Inquisition  of  the  Nuncfo's  jurisdiction  was 
established  on  a  firm  and  indestructible  base. 

It  is  difficult  to  describe  the  alarm  which  the  unex- 
pected publication  of  such  a  law  occasioned.  The 
ministers  of  France  and  Spain,  however,  firmly  resisted 
measures  which,  as  well  as  the  principles  which  had 
dictated  them,  were  so  opposed  to  the  treaty  recently 
concluded  between  the  French  Republic  and  the  Court 
of  Rome.  But  the  blow  was  struck;  the  only  thing 
which  was  gained  by  the  public  disapprobation,  was 
the  universal  contempt  of  the  law,  and  the  proof  which 
was  given,  in  the  eyes  of  all  Europe,  of  the  weakness 
of  the  Prince  who  had  introduced  it.  The  law  of 
April  was  not  revoked,  nevertheless,  the  ancient  eccle- 
siastical laws  of  the  Grand  Duchy,  although  abrogated 
by  the  new  disposition  of  the  Sovereign,  remained  in 
full  vigor  and  activity ;  and  the  Minister,  who  sought 
to  restore  the  deplorable  times  of  Cosmo  III.,  was  unable 
to  resist  them. 

Fanaticism  lost  about  that  time  her  two  principal 
supports  in  Italy,  the  Duke  of  Parma,  and  Turchi,  the 
Bishop  of  that  city.  Louis  of  Etruria  survived  them 
but  a  short  time  ;  he  died  March,  1S03. 

The  Glueen  Maria  Louisa  was  declared  Regent 
during  the  minority  of  her  son.  "  Without  experience, 
vain  and  bigoted,  and  above  all,  entirely  dependent  on 
the  former  ministry,  and  on  the  intriguing  and  ignorant 
Morozzo,  the  Nuncio,  she  desired  nothing  so  much  as 
to  form  a  close  alliance  with  them,  in  order  to  found  at 
Florence  a  Catholic  Academy,  the  design  of  which 
was  to  maintain  what  they  called  the  purity  of  the  faith 
in  the  capital  and  throughout  Tuscany,  and  which 
took  for  its  rules  those  of  the  Holy  office  itself  It  was 
composed  entirely  of  the  enemies  of  Leopold's  reforms. 

Their  first  endeavors  were  to   abolish  the  decrees 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  225 

and  the  laws  relating  to  discipline  and  education, 
which  had  been  established  by  that  Prince,  and  for 
which  they  substituted  superstition  with  all  its  attend- 
ant follies. 

This  frightful  commencement  gave  notice  of  opera- 
tions still  more  disastrous,  and  of  a  destructive  activity 
which  nothing  seemed  able  to  resist.  France  and 
Spain  hastened  to  publish  an  order  for  its  being  abo- 
lished ;  and  on  their  proclamation  the  Catholic  Aca- 
demy was  dissolved.  The  ministers  of  those  two 
powers  were  at  the  same  time  directed  to  represent  to 
the  dueen  that  she  must  moderate  a  zeal  as  pernicious 
as  it  was  ill  advised. 

Ricci,  who  again  saw  himself  delivered  from  the 
evils  which  menaced  him,  regarded  his  safety  as  a  mi- 
racle, which  he  attributed  to  the  manifest  protection  of 
Catherine,  his  relative  ;  and  to  testify  his  gratitude,  he 
associated  her  as  patron  with  the  tutelary  Saint  of  the 
Church  of  Rignana,  which  he  repaired  on  the  occa- 
sion, and  greatly  beautified  !  Not  content  with  these 
external  signs  of  his  personal  devotion  to  Saint  Cathe- 
rine de  Ricci,  he  endeavored  to  animate  the  devotion 
of  the  people,  and  composed  hymns  in  her  honor,  which 
were  sung  by  the  superstitious. 

Scarcely  had  the  Queen  learnt  this,  when  she  con- 
ceived a  better  opinion  of  the  ex-Bishop  of  Pistoia 
than  if  she  had  been  really  convinced  of  his  being  the 
most  enlightened  and  the  most  virtuous  of  men.  She 
began  by  suspecting  that  he  was  not  irrevocably  lost ; 
that  it  was  yet,  perhaps,  possible  for  him  to  be  recon- 
ciled with  the  Pope,  for  till  that  period  she  had  thought, 
with  the  generality  of  her  subjects,  that  he  was  an  in- 
fidel. To  form  this  hope,  and  the  wish  to  succeed  in 
the  project  of  mediation,  was  the  same  thing  with  Ma- 
ria Louisa.  And  she  prepared  her  way  by  a  measure 
as  strange  as  the  project  itself.  She  ordered  prayers 
to  be  made  in  several  convents,  that  Heaven  would 
soften  the  heretical  heart  of  the  prelate  :  lastly,  she 
persuaded  the  Pope  to  come  to  Florence,  as  he  return- 
ed from  his  journey  into  France  to  crown  Napoleon. 


226  SECRETS    OF 

This  circumstance  gave  rise  to  another,  Avhich  com- 
pleted the  comedy.  Pius  YII.  was  in  close  league  with 
the  Arch  Duchess  of  Austria,  the  foundress  of  a  con- 
servatory of  girls  called  Paccaiiaristes^  in  Rome  ;  and 
having  spoken  of  the  invitation  he  had  received  from 
the  Q,ueen  of  Etruria,  and  of  the  desire  which  that 
Princess  manifested  of  having  Ricci  received  into  his 
good  graces,  the  mystical  Arch  Duchess  conceived  a 
wish  to  play  a  part  in  this  pious  enterprise. 

"  The  Arch  Dnchess  was  by  natui^e  ingenuous,  but 
was  seduced  by  those  who  surrounded  her.  She  was 
under  the  spiritual  direction  of  Paccanari,  an  ex- Jesuit, 
a  man  immoral,  intriguing  and  unenlightened."  The 
proof  of  these  assertions  has  been  furnished  by  Pius 
himself,  who  was  obliged  to  suppress  the  conservatory 
of  girls  which  Paccanari  had  instituted  and  supported 
at  the  exj)ense  of  the  Austrian  Princess,  while  Pacca- 
nari was  confined  to  a  convent  for  the  rest  of  his  days. 
The  Arch  Duchess  addressed  a  letter  to  Ricci,  Octo- 
ber, 1804.  In  this  she  accuses  him  of  having  led  Leo- 
pold to  do  many  things  inimical  to  the  interests  of  true 
religion.  She  assures  him  that  he  had  occasioned  the 
eternal  destruction  of  many  ;  and  exhorts  him  to  seek 
his  safety  by  throwing  himself  at  the  feet  of  the  Pope, 
with  her  letter  in  his  hand.  Ricci  replied  by  a  letter 
full  of  dignity  and  respect,  in  which  he  endeavored  to 
undeceive  her  with  regard  to  Leopold.  "  The  inten- 
tions of  that  great  Prince,  your  father,"  said  he,  "  were 
as  pure  as  the  greater  part  of  his  actions  were  visibly 
and  eminently  directed  towards  the  good  of  religion." 
With  regard  to  that  which  personally  concerned  him, 
Ricci  contented  himself  with  saying  that  he  had  con- 
stantly lived  in  unity  with  the  Church,  before  which 
he  had  often  protested,  and  should  again  be  willing 
to  offer,  his  submission  ! 

The  Pope  returned  no  answer.  He  had  formed 
the  resolution  of  terminating  this  affair  by  a  perso- 
nal interview  with  Ricci.  The  Queen  of  Etruria 
assured  the  latter  of  the  pleasure  his  reconciliation 
with  the  Pontiff  would  give  her.     Ricci  immediately 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  227 

proceeded  to  the  Q.ueen,  thanked  her  for  the  interest 
she  took  in  tiis  affairs,  and  promised  to  present  him- 
self before  the  Pope,  as  soon  as  he  should  arrive  at 
Florence, 

Ricci  had  great  confidence  in  the  Pope,  especially 
after  what  had  occurred  in  France.  He  reflected 
not  that  it  is  precisely  when  the  Court  of  Rome  is 
obliged  to  yield  to  the  powerful,  she  increases  her  op- 
pressions of  the  weak,  to  compensate  in  some  measure, 
by  her  excessive  despotism  on  the  one  side,  the  sacri- 
fices she  is  obliged  to  make  on  the  other. 

The  Pope,  well  prepared  for  the  character  he  in- 
tended to  play,  arrived  at  Florence,  May,  1805.  Three 
days  after,  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  for  Rome,  he  sent 
the  Vicegerent  to  Ricci's  residence  to  assure  him  of  his 
desire  to  embrace  him,  which,  however,  he  gave  him 
to  understand,  could  not  take  place  unless  Ricci  signed 
the  declaration  which  the  Vicegerent  presented.  This 
formula  required  him  to  declare  that  he  accepted  from 
his  heart  and  soul  the  apostolical  constitutions  passed 
against  Baius,  Jansenius,  and  Q^uesnel,  from  the  Pon- 
tificate of  Pius  V.  to  the  present  time  ;  that  he  espe- 
cially accepted  the  Bull  Aiictorem  Fidei,  and  that  he 
desired  this  declaration  to  be  made  public. 

It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  trouble  into  which 
Ricci  was  thrown  by  this  unforseen  circumstance. 
He  had  time  neither  for  private  reflection,  nor  for  con- 
sultation with  his  friends.  All  his  representations  to 
the  Vicegerent  were  of  no  avail.  The  only  reply  that 
he  could  obtain  was,  that  there  was  no  longer  any  room 
for  discussion  ;  that  he  must  at  once  submit  himself  to 
the  Pope,  or  never  after  expect  a  reconciliation. 

Some  hours  passed  in  the  inexpressible  misery  of 
deliberations,  hesitation,  and  anxiety,  till  at  length 
Ricci  decided,  at  the  instigation  of  his  friends  Palmieri 
and  the  Abbe  Fontani,  the  only  persons  present  at  this 
deplorable  scene,  that  he  would  yield  to  the  unfortu- 
nate necessity  of  the  times.  He  mournfully  obeyed 
those  persuasions  so  foreign  to  the  dictates  of  his  own 
heart,  and  gave,  for  the  love  of  peace  and  unity,  a  proof 


22S  SECRETS    OF 

of  feebleness,  the  dishonor  of  which  had  been  concealed 
as  much  as  possible ;  he  gave  it  to  free  himself  for 
ever  from  the  persecutions  of  ignorance  and  fanaticism, 
which  were  every  day  gaining  an  increase  of  power  in 
Tuscany. 

The  following  are  some  of  Ricci's  reflections  written 
after  the  event,  October,  1805,  and  which  prove  that 
his  energy  failed  not  on  this  occasion  through  any  of 
the  motives  which  generally  render  the  inconstancy  of 
men  in  their  language  or  conduct  culpable.  The 
opinions  of  the  ex-Bishop  remained  throughout  the 
same ;  his  apparent  change,  and  it  is  his  best  excuse, 
procured  him  neither  places  nor  honors,  for  w^hich  he 
had  no  desire.  He  lost  by  this  conduct  the  esteem  of 
the  men  whose  regard  he  most  valued,  and  he  did  vio- 
lence to  his  own  conscience  ;  but  this  same  conscience, 
which  never  spoke  to  him  in  vaio,  persuaded  him  that 
he  ought,  at  the  price  of  any  sacrifice,  to  cease  to  be 
the  cause  of  discord  in  the  Church  and  of  scandal  to 
simple  believers.  It  was  a  false  idea  of  Christian  hu- 
mility, a  virtue  productive  of  the  most  amiable  graces, 
but  compatible  with  and  favorable  to  the  highest 
virtues  of  fortitude  and  resolution,  which  had  the 
greatest  influence  in  leading  him  to  this  step. 

The  two  friends  of  Ricci  had  also  considerable  influ- 
ence in  bringing  him  to  his  decision.  "  They  per- 
suaded me,"  says  the  Prelate,  "that  the  Pope  had  de- 
termined to  conduct  me  to  Rome  as  an  obstinate  rebel, 
if  the  affair  were  not  brought  to  an  immediate  conclu- 
sion. They  knew  the  character  of  the  Cardinals  who 
exercised  the  chief  influence  over  the  Pontifl";  and  they 
saw  me  exposed  to  the  most  imminent  peril,  without 
protection  or  support," 

Ricci,  having  signed  the  deed,  which  was  immedi- 
ately carried  to  the  Pope,  was  directly  conducted  by  his 
order  to  the  palace,  where  he  was  then  residing. 
Pius  Vn.  received  him.  with  considerable  tenderness. 
Ricci  hastened  to  protest  the  unalterable  purity  of  his 
intentions  and  his  views,  especially  those  which  re- 
garded the  assembly  of  his  Synod,  in  which  he  intended 


FEMALE     CONVENTS.  229 

to  support  those  propositions  in  an  orthodox  and 
Catholic  sense,  which  had  been  condemned  as  taken  in 
a  heretical  one  by  the  Bull  Aiictorem ;  and  he  then 
presented  the  Pope  a  declaration  which  he  had  written 
and  sig-ned  in  testimony  of  the  truth  of  these  assertions. 
The  Pope  read  it  attentively ;  and  in  returning  it  to 
him  said,  that  it  was  not  at  all  necessary,  and  that  he 
was  convinced  of  all  that  the  Bishop  had  said.  "  He 
added,  that,  since  no  one  could  know  my  internal 
feelings,  and  since  I  had  declared  that  my  opinions 
liad  always  been  Catholic,  the  subject  ought  no  longer 
to  admit  of  a  doubt :  and  that  he  should  himself  be  in 
future  the  defender  of  Ricci's  orthodoxy  and  honor,  and 
that  he  should  support  them  at  all  times,  and  wherever 
he  might  be." 

During  this  conversation,  the  Q,ueen  of  Etruria  and 
the  Confessor  Menocchio  entered  the  apartment  where 
Ricci  and  the  Pope  had  met.  Both  of  them  compli- 
mented Ricci  on  his  reconciliation  with  the  Holy  See, 
which  gave  occasion  to  the  Pope's  Confessor  to  observe, 
that  the  Synod  of  Pistoia  was  the  sole  cause  of  all  the 
revolutions  which  agitated  Europe,  and  that  the  Bishop 
had  done  well  in  agreeing  to  its  condemnation.  Ricci 
thought  it  right  not  to  make  any  answer  to  a  proposi- 
tion as  ridiculous  as  it  was  misplaced. 

That  Confessor  of  Pius  YH.  passed  for  a  saint,  and 
even  for  a  saint  endowed  with  the  power  of  working 
miracles.  It  had  been  reported,  that,  on  his  first  jour- 
ney to  Florence,  in  his  way  to  Paris  for  the  coronation 
of  the  Emperor,  he  had  performed  a  miracle  on  a  man 
afflicted  with  an  hitherto  incurable  malady ;  but  this 
prodigy  having  had  only  a  momentary  effect,  the  im- 
portance whiclrhad  been  given  to  it  vanished  with  the 
influence  he  had  on  the  disease. 

The  Pope  showed  himself  very  sensible  of  the  pains 
which  Ricci  had  taken  to  clear  himself  from  having 
supported  the  obnoxious  articles  in  the  sense  in  which 
they  had  been  condemned  by  the  Bull  Aiwtore7?i ;  and 
appeared  inclined  to  change  the  words, /o?'  a  remedy 
of  the  scandal^  into  these,/or  general  edification.    But 

20 


230  SECRETS    OF 

Menocchio,  abusing  the  influence  which  he  possessed 
over  the  Pope  as  his  spiritual  director,  prevented  this 
change;  "because,"  said  he,  "the  Synod  of  Pistoia 
was  guilty  of  the  total  overthrow  of  discipline,  and  of 
the  opposition  which  was  then  made  to  religion." 

Of  the  motives  which  determined  Ricci  to  sign  the 
declaration,  it  is  said :  "  he  was  firmly  resolved  to  ex- 
culpate himself  from  the  accusation  of  his  not  believing 
in  the  Pope,  which  his  refusal  to  vist  him,  would  have 
confirmed  beyond  doubt.  Besides  which,  Ricci  was 
pressed  by  the  Queen  Regent,  who  ardently  desired  to 
effect,  through  any  means,  a  reconciliation  between 
them.  He  considered  that,  had  he  refused,  he  should 
have  every  thing  to  fear,  and  that  he  could  only  ex- 
pect either  a  new  imprisonment,  or  a  perpetual  exile, 
as  the  consequence  of  persevering  in  what  was  called 
schism,  or  of  his  wounding  the  pride  of  the  Princess, 
by  making  her  negotiation  useless.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Pope  had  manifested  his  determination  to  cut  short 
all  disputes,  and  he  had  the  declaration  drawn  up  as 
the  only  method  of  terminating  the  difficulties.  Ricci, 
v/ho  was  an  ardent  lover  of  peace  and  unity,  believed 
it  to  be  his  duty  to  sacrifice  his  self-love  in  an  act  of 
submission  and  obedience,  which  would  not  in  any 
way  wrong  the  depot  of  faith. 

"  He  reflected,  that,  if  he  yielded  on  some  points  of 
discipline,  he  did  but  accommodate  himself  to  circum- 
stances. These  had  totally  changed  ;  it  was  necessary 
that  a  man  should  change  with  them,  and  that,  still 
desiring  to  effect  good,  he  should  be  willing  to  seek  it 
by  other  means  more  adapted  at  the  time  to  eflfect  his 
purpose. 

"He  reflected,  above  all,  that,  being  reduced  to  the 
station  of  a  private  man,  he  ought  to  give  up  the  inno- 
vations and  reforms  which  he  had  made  as  a  l^ishop, 
without  the  consent  of  the  Pope.  It  had  been  told  him 
that  the  whole  Church  was  in  opposition  to  him,  and 
he  therefore  submitted  his  will  to  the  decisions  of  the 
Bull  Aitctorem,  that  he  might  not  appear  an  ambitious 
and  obstinate  innovator." 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  231 

The  news  of  his  reconciliation  with  Pius  VII. ,  pro- 
cured him  a  great  number  of  visits  and  comphmentary 
letters  from  all  the  prelates  of  Tuscany.  The  public, 
from  that  period,  shewed  him  the  most  distinguished 
esteem  and  veneration.  But  he  hastened  from  that 
universal  attention,  which  had  no  charms  for  him,  to 
the  solitude  of  his  country-house. 

There  he  learnt  the  judgment  which  was  pronounc- 
ed on  the  decision  he  had  taken.  Some  saw  in  it  only 
a  proof  of  inconstancy  and  feebleness  ;  others  regarded 
it  as  a  true  recantation  and  abjuration  of  his  errors. 
Ricci  cared  for  neither  :  but  considered  that  he  ought 
to  be  judged  more  according  to  his  intentions  than  his 
actions.  It  was  with  the  same  feeling  that  he  wrote 
to  the  Pope,  May  1805,  to  compliment  him  on  his 
return  to  his  capital,  to  ratify  anew  his  declaration,  and 
to  protest  his  sincere  submission  and  gratitude. 

His  part  was  irrevocably  taken ;  nothing  could  make 
him  recall  a  determination  of  this  kind.  Since  he  had 
sacrificed  his  conscience,  it  was  a  proof  that  he  believed 
the  resolution  indispensable.  He  was  blamed  for  it  by 
those  who  considered  his  recantation  as  the  unworthy 
price  of  a  few  years'  inglorious  repose  :  he  was  praised 
for  it  by  those  who  considered  it  a  true  and  praise- wor- 
thy conversion.  He  merited  neither  the  praise  nor  the 
blame  ;  he  knew  that  he  had  no  want  of  conversion, 
and  he  expected  not  any  worldly  peace  on  the  part  of 
those  who  had  troubled  his  tranquillity  and  happiness. 
Deceived  with  regard  to  the  true  state  of  the  Church, 
Ricci  sincerely  desired  to  serve  the  cause  of  religion, 
but  he  perceived  not  that  the  Court  of  Rome  made  use 
of  him  only  for  its  own  purposes.  The  ex-Bishop  of 
Pistoia,  without  doing  any  good,  was  the  cause  of  much 
evil  which  his  adversaries  did  in  his  name,  and  he  lost 
the  reputation  of  that  firmness  and  strength  of  soul,  of 
which  he  had  given  many  brilliant  proofs  during  his 
career.  In  a  moment  he  destroyed  his  own  work.  His 
enemies,  freed  from  all  fear,  had  now  only  to  mention 
Ricci  as  the  submitted  and  repentant  child  of  Rome. — 
Ricci  the  courageous  and  enlightened  reformer  of  Tus- 


232  SECRETS    OF 

cany !  After  having  been  the  scourge  of  the  in- 
triguing, and  terror  of  the  hypocrites,  he  finished  by 
becoming  their  sport  and  their  dupe,  and  by  furnishing 
them  with  arms  which  he  had  so  often  broken  in  their 
hands. 


CHAPTER     XII. 

Ricci's  Recantation — Illness — and  Death. 

Different  was  the  conduct  of  the  Pontiff  from 
that  of  the  persecutors  of  Ricci,  and,  among  others,  of 
the  Cardinal  Gonsalvi,  who  repaid  the  eflforts  of  the 
prelate  to  confirm  the  reconciliation,  with  harsh  and 
severe  treatment.  Pius  YIL,  when  Bishop  of  Imola, 
and  "  when  Tuscany  labored  for  the  reorganization  of 
its  ecclesiastical  regime,  through  the  care  of  the  inde- 
fatigable and  sage  Leopold, — Pius  VII.,  who,  as  is  ge- 
nerally known,  did  not  see  with  an  evil  eye  the  spirit 
of  the  new  legislation  of  the  Grand  Duke,"  would  not 
expose  himself  by  condemning  in  others,  what  he  had 
formerly  approved  in  himself 

Scarcely  had  the  Pontiff  received  the  letter  from 
Ricci,  than  he  charged  Fenaja  to  thank  him  in  his 
name,  and  to  promise  him  an  answer  from  his  own 
hand. 

The  letter  of  the  Pontiff  contained  expressions  of 
joy,  which  their  reconciliation  had  caused  him,  in 
consequence  of  the  sincere  adherence  of  the  prelate  to 
all  the  sentences  emanating  from  Rome  against  Jan- 
senism and  the  Synod  of  Pistoia,  and,  above  all,  the 
spontaneous  confirmation  of  the  declaration  which  he 
had  signed  at  Florence.  In  speaking  to  Ricci  of  this, 
the  Pope  added  malignantly :  "  By  which  act  you  de- 
clare that  you  condemn  all  the  evil  you  have  done." 

The  consistory  was  held  in  June.  Pius  YIL,  after 
having  given  an  account  to  the  Cardinals  of  the  aftairs 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  233 

of  France,  passed  to  that  of  the  ex-Bishop  of  Pistoia. 
He  related  what  had  taken  place  at  Florence,  during 
his  last  abode  there,  and  reported  the  precise  terms  of 
the  declaration  which  the  ex-Bishop  had  signed :  but 
the  PontiiF,  in  relating  the  protestations  which  Ricci 
had  made  at  their  first  interview,  said  that  the  prelate 
had  assured  him  that,  '•  even  in  the  7nidst  of  his  errors^ 
his  mind  had  always  remained  attached  to  the  ortho- 
dox faith  and  to  the  apostolic  see ;"  and  since  his  re- 
turn to  Rome,  Ricci  had  written  to  him  to  ratify  "the 
recantation  made  at  Florence." 

Ricci  openly  accused  the  Cardinal  Gonsalvi  of  the 
base  design  of  having  wished  to  persecute  him,  even 
after  his  entire  defeat. 

"  Cardinal  Gonsalvi,"  says  the  unfortunate  Bishop, 
"  was  very  much  piqued  at  my  affair  having  termi- 
nated without  his  interposition  or  approbation  ;  and 
habituated  as  he  is  to  treat  the  Pope  with  a  superiority 
which  does  not  belong  to  him,  I  do  not  doubt  but  he 
has  made  known  his  vexation." 

The  Pope's  answer  to  Ricci's  letter  was  sent  from 
Rome,  to  the  Pontifical  Nuncio  in  Tuscany.  The 
Nuncio  paid  the  ex-Bishop  of  Pistoia  a  visit,  "  and  by 
order  of  the  Cardinal  Secretary  of  state,  he  wished," 
said  Ricci,  "to  make  me  feel  the  general  disapproba- 
tion caused  by  my  letter  to  the  Pope,  as  if  it  had  been 
a  proof  of  my  dissimulation  in  regard  to  the  signature 
of  the  formula.  He  added,  that  the  Pope  was  very 
discontented  Avith  it;  that  he  wished  to  make  me  feel 
his  indignation ;  that  the  reconciliation  had  been  on 
the  point  of  being  destroyed,  but  for  the  observations 
which  the  Pope  had  made  on  my  letter  in  his  address 
to  the  consistory.  Finally,  he  told  me,  always  how- 
ever, in  the  name  of  the  Secretary  of  state,  that  the 
Pope  was  kind,  and  that  he  had  been  surprised ;  but 
that  I  must  pay  attention  and  regulate  my  conduct 
with  circumspection  for  the  future." 

Ricci  answered  these  vain  menaces  with  a  smile. 
He  proved  to  the  Nuncio  that  Pius  VH.  was  perfectly 
satisfied  with  what  had  taken  place,  and  he  proved  it 

20* 


234  SECRETS    OF 

even  by  the  letter  of  the  Pontiff,  which  was  written  in 
the  most  obliging  and  flattering  terms. 

"  At  length,"  says  Ricci,  ''  having  taken  a  more  se- 
rious and  decided  tone,  I  informed  him  that  M.  the 
Cardinal  offended  me  ;  that  my  rank,  the  education  I 
had  received  as  a  Christian  and  a  citizen,  and  above 
all,  the  character  which  I  possessed,  made  me  abhor 
with  detestation,  every  kind  of  dissimulation  and  false- 
hood. I  made  him  understand  that  the  affair  had  been 
begun  and  completed  by  the  Holy  Father  himself,  with 
the  intervention  of  the  dueen,  and  that  he  had  not 
been  surprised  into  it." 

Having  thus  succeeded  in  proving  that  the  Pope 
fully  approved  his  conduct  and  sentiments,  and  that 
he  had  clearly  made  this  known  by  his  letter,  as  he 
had  also  done  to  the  whole  Church  by  his  address  to 
the  consistory  of  Cardinals,  notwithstanding  the  ex- 
pressions by  which  a  hostile  hand  had  found  the  means 
of  disfiguring  those  two  convincing  proofs,  Ricci  re- 
quested the  Nuncio  to  give  particular  attention  to  a 
passage  in  the  letter  of  Pius  Yll.  thus  worded : — 

"  Would  to  Heaven  you  had  long  ago  put  us  in  a 
situation  to  afford  you  this  consolation.  If  we  our- 
selves had  been  alone  personally  concerned,  it  would 
have  been  afforded  you  long  before.  We  have  ])een 
always  disposed  not  only  to  press  you  to  our  heart, 
and  to  receive  you  with  all  possible  tenderness  into  our 
favor,  but  we  have  always  most  ardently  desired  it, 
and  we  only  waited  for  that  one  indispensable  requi- 
site to  our  reconciliation,  w^hich  you  have  at  length 
decided  to  aflbrd  us." 

"  I  might  say,"  continues  the  ex-Bishop,  after  having 
read  this  passage  to  the  Nuncio,  "that  my  first  letter 
to  the  Pope,  written  March  1800,  to  compliment  him 
on  his  elevation,  was  never  presented ;  I  might  add, 
that  the  uncivil  reply  which  the  Cardinal  Gonsalvi 
made  me  in  the  name  of  the  Pope,  was  given  un- 
known to  the  Pontiff,  and  was  conceived  in  opposition 
to  his  maxims  and  sentiments ;  that  it  was  fabricated 
by  a  person  who  produced  a  false  letter  from  me.  en- 


FEMALE     CONVENTS.  235 

tirely  different  to  that  I  had  written,  that  he  might  ad- 
dress me  an  injurious  reply,  and  one  full  of  all  the 
animosity  and  abuse  which  a  base  mind  and  an  igno- 
rant man  is  capable  of  conceiving." 

Ricci  contented  himself  with  answering  the  Nuncio 
in  this  dignified  manner.  Silence  and  resignation  were 
now  the  only  arms  he  could  oppose  to  his  enemies ; 
for  had  he  used  others^  he  would  have  aided  tlieir  de- 
signs, and  at  once  produced  a  fatal  rupture  with  the 
Roman  Court. 

The  direct  correspondence  between  the  ex-Bishop  of 
Pistoia  and  the  Pope,  rendered  all  the  endeavors  of  his 
intriguing  persecutors  vain. 

When  the  prelate  received  the  last  letter  from  the 
Pope,  he  called  on  the  Nuncio.  "He  told  me,"'  says 
Ricci,  "  with  much  politeness,  that  he  did  not  doubt 
my  sincerity,  and  that  he  could  not  conceive  why  the 
Cardinal  Secretary  of  State  continued  to  insist  upon 
the  necessity  of  watching  my  conduct.  I  answered  by 
a  smile  ;  and  I  asked  if  it  was  very  warm  at  Rome  ? 
This  indifferent  question  disconcerted  the  Nuncio  a 
little,  who,  from  that  time,  never  entered  into  a  similar 
conversation." 

Religious  studies  became  Ricci's  chief  occupation. 
He  composed  some  theological  works  ;  among  which 
were,  "  Des  Considerations  sur  les  Epitres  de  Paul,  sur 
rOraison  Dominicale,"  dec.  dec'  The  interest  wiiicli 
he  took  in  promoting  the  worship  of  Catherine  de  Ricci, 
who,  says  he,  had  so  ardently  contemplated  the  myste- 
ries of  our  Saviour's  passion,  induced  him  to  ask  of  the 
Pope  himself  a  plenary  indulgence  for  the  festival  of 
that  Saint.  Ricci's  letter  was  written  January,  1806  ; 
and  he  received  an  answer  from  the  Pope  in  February 
following,  granting  him  all  he  had  asked. 

He  thought  of  nothing  from  that  time,  but  of  cele- 
brating, with  the  greatest  pomp,  the  feast  of  the  Saint, 
his  relative.  He  had  prayers  printed  for  the  people  to 
address  to  her,  and  he  added  instructions  for  the  de- 
vout, to  merit  the  pontifical  indulgence  ;  he  had  medals 
struck  with  the  image  of  Catherine,  and  pious  inscrip- 


236  SECRETS    OP 

tions  and  prayers  upon  them,  to  be  distributed  among 
the  faithful. 

It  is  scarcely  possible  to  recognise  in  this  idolatrous 
conduct  the  enlightened  co-operator  of  Leopold,  and 
the  eloquent  author  of  the  discourse  against  the  abuse 
of  indulgences,  pronounced  at  the  assembly  of  the  Tus- 
can Bishops. 

Those  superstitions  triflings  of  Ricci  had  not  stifled 
his  virtues.  He  conducted  himself  with  much  great- 
ness of  soul  towards  the  family  of  Senator  Ricci,  ever 
since  the  death  of  his  brother,  who  had  for  a  long  time 
shown  himself  the  most  fanatical  of  his  persecutors. 

He  was  very  bountiful  to  the  poor  ;  but  his  fortune 
was  considerably  decreased  by  the  union  of  Tuscany 
with  the  French  empire  in  1SU6. 

Ricci  felt  his  end  approaching.  He  wished  again  to 
enjoy  the  country;  and  lest  he  should  be  taken  ill  un- 
awares, he  arranged  his  aflairs,  and  made  his  will, 
before  quitting  Florence. 

He  w^as  scarcely  settled  at  his  villa,  before  he  had 
two  severe  attacks  of  epilepsy,  which  caused  so  much 
fear  for  his  life,  that  he  returned  to  Florence.  There 
he  appeared  to  regain  his  health  and  strength,  when 
suddenly  his  malady  returned  with  more  violence  than 
before.  Humors,  which  at  Ih^st  covered  the  whole  of 
his  body,  at  length  fixed  in  his  legs,  and  made  him 
suffer  severely. 

His  patience,  resignation,  and  gentleness,  durmg  a 
long  illness,  and  dreadful  sufferings,  edified  every  one 
who  approached  him. 

The  religious  feelings  which  he  evinced  during  his 
last  moments,  convinced  those,  who  had  hitherto  doubt- 
ed it,  of  the  sincerity  of  his  belief.  But  he  showed  no 
remorse  for  his  past  actions,  he  never  spoke  of  his  re- 
forms, and  he  was  only  heard  to  implore  the  pardon 
of  God,  for  having  mixed  any  human  motives  with 
the  maxims  which  had  guided  him  during  his  episco- 
pacy. 

The  author  of  the  life  of  Ricci  answers  those  who 
fj.ccused  the  prelate  of  being  alone  in  his  reformations. 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  237 

and  appropriating  rights  to  himself,  which  belong  ex- 
clusively to  the  Holy  See.  He  proves  that  the  reforms 
which  had  been  undertaken,  related  to  certain  abuses 
existing  in  Pistoia  and  Prato,  which  kept  the  people  in 
ignorance,  superstition,  and  fanaticism,  and  nurtured 
the  ambition,  avarice,  and  dissipation,  of  both  the  high 
and  inferior  clergy, — abuses  indeed,  which,  when  Ricci 
had  lost  all  influence,  were  extirpated  for  the  most  part, 
to  the  great  contentment  of  pious  and  rational  people, 
the  rest  seeming  to  take  no  interest  in  the  aftair.  "  In 
these  latter  times,"  says  the  writer,  '•  we  applaud  the 
opinions  and  maxims  which  were  received  with  horror 
as  the  actions  of  the  Synod  of  Pistoia ;  and  we  now 
pursue  in  tranquillity,  and  even  with  zeal,  a  consider- 
able number  of  those  same  reforms  which  were  detested 
at  the  epoch  of  that  assembly." 


CHAPTER     XIII. 

Survey  of  the  Life  and  Prelacy  of  Ricci. 

The  education  which  Scipio  de  Ricci  received  in 
childhood  gave  his  mind  a  devotional  character  ;  but 
the  cultivation  of  his  reason  and  temper  would  not 
allow  him  to  become  either  fanatical  or  grossly  super- 
stitious !  He  was  born  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  destined 
for  an  ecclesiastic. 

His  reflections  upon  the  Pontifical  Court,  which  he 
visited, — a  servile,  intriguing,  and  egotistical  court — 
are  precious  from  the  mouth  of  so  sincerely  obsequious 
a  priest ;  his  refusal  to  make  a  fortune  through  it, 
when  he  entered  on  the  career  of  the  prelacy,  shows 
the  disinterestedness  of  his  noble  mind.  He  wished 
to  remain  an  honest  man. 

Ricci  assisted  in  the  destruction  of  the  Jesuits,  whom 
he  detested  as  a  political  body,  whose  existence  threat- 


238  SECRETS    OF 

ened  governments  and  kings,  corrupted  the  morality  of 
the  people,  and  prostituted  rehgion.  He  beheld  among 
them  tlie  falsifiers  of  holy  doctrines,  the  satellites  of 
the  monstrous  Papal  monarchy,  the  enemies  of  every 
one  whom  they  could  not  make  subservient  to  their 
ends,  and  the  poisoners  of  Ganganehi. 

From  the  time  he  was  named  Vicar-general  of  Flo- 
rence, he  manifested  his  firm  intention  to  be  a  patriot 
priest,  ever  ready  to  second  the  Prince  who  then  reign- 
ed for  the  happiness  of  Tuscany.  The  first  proof 
which  he  gave  of  it,  was  by  co-operatinof  in  the  repub- 
lication of  books  which  unveiled  the  ambition,  lusts, 
infamy,  and  crimes  of  several  Popes, — books  which 
Rome  had  condemned,  as  irreligious  and  impious. 

When  he  became  Bishop  of  Pistoia  and  Prato,  he 
traced  out  with  severity  the  line  of  his  duties  ;  and 
remained  constantly  and  courageously  attached  to  it, 
till  the  fury  of  his  enemies  obliged  him  to  quit  the 
diocese. 

The  commencement  of  his  episcopal  government 
was  the  origin  of  all  the  evils  which  he  suffered  to- 
wards the  close  of  his  life,  and  of  the  persecutions  under 
which  he  sank.  He  had  irritated  the  powerful  and 
dangerous  body  of  monks ;  and  by  attacking  their 
privileges,  and  unveiling  their  turpitude,  he  threaten- 
ed the  Court  of  Rome  with  the  loss  of  the  greatest 
number,  and  the  most  zealous,  of  her  emissaries  :  from 
that  time  his  ruin  was  decided. 

A  philosopher  would  have  tolerated  the  superstitious 
worship  of  the  sacre  catur,  added  by  the  Jesuits  to  pre- 
ceding superstitions,  till  human  reason  complaining  of 
it,  should  confound  it  with  the  mummeries  already 
consecrated  to  ridicule.  A  philosopher,  if  he  had 
known  the  cloisters  to  conceal  individuals  of  both 
sexes,  who  had  vowed  to  violate  the  laws  of  Nature, 
and  not  to  fulfil  the  duties  of  society,  would  have 
considered  it  of  very  little  importance,  whether  these 
persons  lived  according  to  the  strange  rules  of  their 
order  or  not,  or  whether  they  preserved  the  chastity 
they  believed  to  be  agreeable  to  God. 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  239 

But  Ricci  was  a  Catholic  from  his  infancy,  and  his 
office  as  pastor  oblio:ed  him  to  inspect  the  rehgions  opi- 
nions of  his  sect.  The  worship  of  the  sacre  ccBur  was 
an  abominable  idolatry  in  his  eyes,  so  much  the  more 
dangerous,  because  it  was  introduced  by  the  authors  of 
every  error,  those  destroyers  of  morality,  the  Jesuits  ; 
to  whom  it  was  destined  to  give  credit  and  powder. 

He  could  not  behold,  without  horror,  the  disso- 
luteness of  manners  in  the  convents  of  the  Domi- 
nican nuns,  where  the  monks  of  that  order  openly 
taught  atheism,  encouraged  the  most  disgraceful  li- 
bertinism, and  filled  them  with  impurity,  sacrilege, 
and  debauchery  of  every  kind.  He  could  not  help 
expressing  his  indignation  at  the  indifference  of  the 
superiors,  of  the  chief  of  the  order  at  the  Court  of 
Rome,  and  against  the  Pope,  wlio,  though  they  had 
been  for  a  long  time  instructed  with  regard  to  those 
turpitudes,  refused  to  take  any  step  towards  putting 
an  end  to  them.  Had  he  not  every  reason  to  conclude 
that  those  people  must  be  of  a  different  religion  to  him- 
self, and  to  despise  them,  because  they  pretended  to 
persecute  him  on  account  of  his  zeal  for  that  reli- 
gion ?" 

What  relio^ious  soul  would  not  shudder  at  seeing 
immorality  thus  added  to  profanation,  and  corruption 
bringing  forth  impiety  ?  Bj  tolerating  these  crimes, 
the  Pope  plainly  announced  his  indulgence  of  them  ; 
but  by  encouraging  their  commission,  he  made  himself 
an  accomplice. 

The  hatred  of  the  numerous  party,  whose  interest  it 
was  to  keep  up  these  abuses,  did  not  prevent  Ricci's 
continuing  steadily  in  the  route  he  had  marked.  Doing 
away  with  several  pernicious  practices,  he  labored  con- 
stantly to  make  the  languag-e  of  reliijion  more  respect- 
able, and  his  priests,  men  of  exemplar}^  conduct,  fa- 
thers of  the  people.  He  intended  to  instruct  them  in 
their  conduct,  and  to  console  them  under  their  misfor- 
tunes. Animated  by  these  holy  views,  be  banished 
itinerant  missionaries,  and  improved  the  catechism 
enjoined  by  the  Court  of  Rome,  which  increased  the 


240  SECRETS    OF 

favor  of  the  multitude  for  the  absurd  prerogatives  of 
the  Papacy. 

Ricci  was  tolerant,  because  he  was  a  just  and  reason- 
able man,  rather  than  a  blind  reformer.  This  was  to 
contradict  himself  as  a  Roman  Catholic,  but  the  time 
was  come  when  such  inconsistency  was  inevitable. 

Ricci,  who  detested  the  conduct  and  opinions  of  the 
two  perverted  nuns  of  his  diocess,  detested  still  more 
the  cruelty  of  the  Archbishop  Martini,  who  had  used 
violence  to  convert  them. 

The  decree  of  Leopold  for  abolishing  even  the  In- 
quisition in  Tuscany,  was  attributed  at  the  time  to  the 
Bishop  of  Pistoia — the  greatest  praise  which  could 
have  been  given  to  that  philanthropic  pastor.  Public 
instruction  was  a  great  object  with  Leopold  and  Ricci, 
as  it  is  with  all  true  friends  of  humanity.  The  Bishop 
labored  more  particularly  in  forming  enlightened  and 
wise  ecclesiastics ;  because  through  them  the  people 
would  gain  knowledge,  and  the  peace  and  prosperity 
of  the  State  would  be  ensured  as  the  natural  result  of 
good  management. 

Pistoia  had  its  ecclesiastical  academy ;  and  if  the 
studies  of  the  regular  monks  had  been  reformable,  the 
activity  of  Ricci,  excited  by  the  exhortations  of  Leo- 
pold, would  have  introduced  a  better  method  of  in- 
struction. But  the  monks,  were  only  ignorant,  and 
inclined  to  evil,  and  attached  by  interest  to  the  Court 
of  Rome,  which  supported  them  by  numerous  sacrifices, 
as  being  its  most  devoted  and  redoubtable  soldiery. 
Having  endeavored  to  correct  them,  to  make  them 
useful  priests,  and  good  citizens,  was  a  great  crime  in 
the  Bishop  of  Pistoia  ;  and  in  order  to  destroy  this 
dangerous  enemy  to  error,  efforts  were  made  by  the 
Court  of  Rome,  and  by  the  monks,  to  assassinate  him. 

The  establishment  of  the  ecclesiastical  patrimony 
caused  no  little  uneasiness  at  Rome.  Some  of  the 
ministers,  whose  salaries  were  thus  made  entirely  in- 
dependent of  its  influence,  began  to  lose  sight  of  its 
interests  in  their  desire  to  diffuse  the  principles  of  mo- 
rality and  religion.     This  revolution,  as  desirable  for 


FEMALE   CONVENTS.  241 

Tuscany,  as  it  was  inimical  to  Rome,  whose  grandeur 
and  elevation  were  established  on  the  servility  and 
blind  adulation  of  all  around  her,  seemed  by  the  un- 
remitted care  and  exertions  of  Ricci,  about  to  produce 
a  speedy  and  important  improvement. 

Not  content  with  merely  instructing  his  clergy  on 
the  inalienable  rights  of  the  civil  power,  on  those  of  the 
clergy,  and  on  the  usurpations  by  which  Rome  had 
weakened  both  the  one  and  the  other  ;  he  showed  them 
still  farther  by  his  example,  how  those  rights  should 
be  restored  to  their  legitimate  possessors,  more  espe- 
cially as  the  Prince  who  then  reigned  in  Tuscany, 
made  it  an  imperative  duty.  Authorized  by  the 
Government,  which  Ricci  recognized  as  the  only  power 
possessing  the  right  of  regulating  the  civil  contract  of 
marriage,  Ricci  dispensed  with  many  points  deemed 
essential  by  his  diocesans  ;  and  no  longer  permitted  the 
Roman  Dataiy  to  possess  any  authority  in  Tuscany. 

The  priests,  deprived  of  their  ecclesiastical  perqui- 
sites, were  thus  also  divested  of  all  their  temporal  juris- 
diction, of  all  authority  in  secular  affairs  ;  and  were 
obliged  to  submit  with  resignation,  by  the  example  of 
the  Bishop  himself,  who  voluntarily  renounced  privi- 
leges which  had  been  accorded  to  the  clergy  in  ages  of 
barbarism  and  ignorance. 

The  object  nearest  Ricci's  heart,  was  the  deliverance 
of  the  clergy  from  the  influence  of  the  Court  of  Rome; 
and  he  exposed  to  the  Prince  the  abuses  of  the  oath  of 
fidelity,  which  the  Pope  requiresof  every  Bishop  when 
he  grants  his  Bulls.  With  regard  to  most  of  them,  this 
oath  is  a  fatal  bond  :  it  retains  them  in  the  most  deadly 
opposition  to  all  legislative  measures,  which,  having  no 
other  object  than  the  happiness  of  the  people,  would 
diminish  the  overgrown  authority  of  the  Holy  See. 
With  these  designs  constantly  in  view,  Ricci  used  every 
endeavor  to  enlighten  his  diocess  by  the  difl\ision  of 
such  books  as  seemed  most  calculated  to  produce  this 
effect.  Many  of  these  taught  them  to  controvert  the 
idea  of  an  infallible  authority;  and  demonstrated  to 

21 


242  SECRETS    OF 

them  the  absurdity  as   well   as   the    iDJiistice  of  the 
greater  part  of  its  boasted  procedures. 

The  reforms  in  the  diocess  of  Pistoia  alarmed  not 
only  the  Court  of  Rome,  but  the  Tuscan  ministry ;  it 
was  incessantly  employed  in  alleging-  dilficulties,  and 
inventing  obstacles  to  disgust  the  Grand  Duke  with 
the  idea  of  innovation  ;  but  it  saw  all  its  attempts 
overthrown  by  the  skill  and  attention  of  the  Bishop. 
They  feared,  at  the  same  time,  the  penetrating  observa- 
tion of  their  master,  and  that  of  the  public,  which  the 
new  legislation  had  awakened  to  reflection.  This  Avas 
to  sap  the  very  foundations  of  despotism  and  ignorance ; 
but,  notwithstanding  the  eftbrts  of  the  Prince,  they 
continued  perseveringly  in  their  machinations. 

The  similarity  of  interests  between  the  Tuscan 
Ministry  and  the  Court  of  Rome,  formed  the  band  of 
an  alliance,  the  principal  eflect  of  which  was  to  pro- 
long the  evils  of  humanity,  by  perpetuating  the  dark- 
ness in  which  its  enemy  stood  protected.  The  vain 
and  haughty  aristocracy  hastened  to  take  part  in  a 
league,  which  promised  them  the  preservation  of  all 
the  prejudices  on  which  their  exorbitant  privileges 
were  established  ;  and  Ricci,  thus  in  open  war  with 
the  Pope  and  his  monks,  the  nobility  and  the  Govern- 
ment, had  no  support  but  the  esteem  of  Leopold  and  a 
good  conscience. 

But  the  projects  of  the  Grand  Duke  and  the  Bishop, 
induced  the  natural  enemies  of  reform  to  concentrate 
their  means  of  attack  and  defence,  and  dispose  them 
to  the  best  advantage  against  their  courageous  and  in- 
defatigable adversary ;  whilst  the  latter,  by  incessantly 
unveiling  their  chicanery  and  incapacity,  exposed  them 
to  the  anger  of  the  Prince,  and  to  the  irreparable 
destruction  of  themselves  and  their  evil  influence. 
Ricci  was  not  deceived  by  the  majority  of  the  priests,  to 
whom  he  restored  their  dignity  and  their  rights,  while 
he  resumed  his  own.  The  populace  alone  remained 
exposed  to  the  intrigues,  and  to  the  powerful  means  of 
corruption,  which  the  ministers,  the  nobles,  and  the 
emissaries  of  the  Pope  brought  into  action.     Ricci's 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  243 

success  deceived  Leopold.  He  committed  the  inexcus- 
able error  of  inviting  to  his  councils  the  dignified 
clergy  of  Tuscany ;  a  body  necessarily  interested  in 
resisting  the  intentions  which  he  had  manifested  to 
effect  their  good ;  and  he  imprudently  furnished  that 
dangerous  party  with  an  occasion  of  making  their 
opposition  popular,  and  of  openly  professing  them- 
selves to  be  the  support  and  guide  of  the  wandering 
multitude. 

The  issue  of  the  ecclesiastical  assembly  of  Florence 
was  the  signal  of  a  tumult  at  Prato.  This  popular 
rising  was  repressed  without  trouble  ;  but  the  example 
was  given ;  the  multitude  of  hypocrites  and  fanatics 
had  seen  how  easily  superstition  inflames  a  people 
long  subdued  by  despotism.  Rome  dared  to  conceive 
the  vast  plan  of  arming  the  people  against  all  sove- 
reign reformers  of  abuses.  Already  had  her  projects 
been  made  manifest  in  the  affairs  of  Belgium,  where 
she  preached  the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  to  the  great 
profit  of  avaricious  monks  and  imbecile  nobles,  as  well 
as  her  own. 

The  revolt  of  several  Tuscan  cities  was  fomented  in 
the  same  manner,  and  by  the  same  agents.  That  of 
Prato  was  followed  by  another  at  Pistoia,  which  was 
only  appeased  by  the  flight  of  Ricci,  by  the  abolition  of 
the  religious  reforms  which  he  had  established,  and  by 
the  restoration  of  all  the  abuses  of  superstition  and 
servility  towards  Rome.  The  same  spirit  extended  to 
Florence,  where  the  minister  lost  no  time  in  completing 
his  work  of  darkness.  He  effected  his  design  without 
trouble.  Fanaticism  everywhere  obtained  a  complete 
victory,  and  brought  back  in  triumph  her  usual  com- 
panions. Ignorance  and  Superstition. 

During  these  events,  the  French  revolution  took 
place ;  and  from  its  commencement  the  eyes  of  all 
Europe  were  riveted  too  closely  on  the  spectacle  it  pre- 
sented, to  be  diverted  by  any  object  of  minor  interest. 
Rome  seized  the  opportunity  for  persecuting  Ricci, 
who  was  enjoying  the  repose  he  had  obtained  by  the 
resignation  of  his  diocess.     A  Bull,  a  monument  of  had 


244  SECRETS    OF 

faith.,  was  issued  against  him.  But,  although  far  from 
the  world  and  its  storms,  Ricci  conceived  himself 
equally  obliged  to  assist  liis  brethren  who  were  ex- 
posed to  their  fury,  and  all  his  decisions  were  a  new 
homage  to  sincerity.  Thus,  in  answer  to  some  ques- 
tions from  France,  he  replied,  that  the  clergy  ought  to 
take  the  national  oath  prescribed  by  the  representatives 
of  the  people  ;  and  that  the  people  should  regard  the 
priests  so  obeying,  as  their  legitimate  spiritual  gfuides. 

Rome  and  Tnscany  were,  at  that  time,  under  the 
power  of  the  Republican  arms,  which  they  had  brought 
against  them  by  their  crooked  policy.  Ricci  lived  in 
voluntary  exile,  but  was  forced  from  his  retreat  in  the 
most  unjustifiable  manner.  Some  brigands  took  pos- 
session of  the  Tuscan  capital  in  the  name  of  the 
Emperor  of  Austria,  and  the  pretended  miraculous 
Virgin  of  the  city.  They  committed  every  excess,  and 
every  crime,  of  which  the  fanaticism  of  priests,  or  the 
folly  of  an  imbecile  government  could  be  guilty.  The 
ex-Bishop  of  Pistoia  w^as  thrown  into  prison,  with  all 
the  partisans  of  Leopold,  and  with  every  Jansenist 
who  had  not  sacrificed  the  interests  of  his  country  to 
the  despotism  of  Rome.  The  long  list  of  persecutions 
which  Ricci  had  suffered,  show  the  infamy  of  his  per- 
secutors, their  intrigues,  their  machinations,  and  cruel- 
ties. Nothing  was  neglected  to  satisfy  the  implacable 
vengeance  of  Rome  and  its  partisans,  and  to  sooth  the 
vanity  of  the  nobles  whom  Leopold  had  driven  into  the 
obscurity  to  which  nature  had  condemned  them. 
Whilst  the  persecutions  were  at  their  greatest  height; 
Ricci,  by  turns  flattered  and  menaced,  wearied  by 
measures  the  most  adapted  to  exhaust  the  patience  and 
courage  of  an  isolated  old  man,  attacked  on  the  most 
feeble  side,  which  his  unsuspicious  soul  offered  to  his 
cunning  and  malignant  enemies^Ricci  was  by  degrees 
prepared  for  an  act  of  condescension,  to  which  he 
would  never  have  consented,  had  he  been  able  to  see  it 
under  the  same  light  in  which  it  appeared  to  his  best 
friends. 

The  victories  of  the  French  in  Italy  had  snatched 


FEMALE     CONVENTS.  245 

the  unfortunate  Bishop  from  the  Court  of  Rome^  which 
re^2:arded  him  as  its  prey ;  but  soon  after,  the  Tuscans, 
sacrificed  to  a  deplorable  policy,  became  by  the  most 
illegal  measures,  the  allies  of  a  weak  and  superstitious 
despot,  of  a  wild  and  extravagant  woman,  and  of  a  mi- 
nister equally  devoid  of  talents  and  virtue.  Rome,  ex- 
isting but  by  evil,  and  only  triumphing  in  darkness^ 
hoped  to  regain  in  Tuscany  all  the  ground  she  had 
lost.  The  abolition  of  the  liberal  institutions  of  Leo- 
pold and  the  French,  and  the  establishment  of  the 
abuses  which  had  been  extirpated,  preceded  the  fall  of 
Ricci.  Overwhelmed  with  evils  without  end,  terrified 
by  preceding  atrocities,  seduced  by  every  thing  which 
could  make  him  mistake  a  feeble  for  a  virtuous  action  ; 
he  signed  an  instrument,  which  he  believed  was  but 
consigning  the  past  to  forgetfulness,  but  which  his  dis- 
sembling enemies  took  care  to  convert  into  a  condem- 
nation of  his  whole  previous  conduct,  and  of  the  mo- 
tives which  had  directed  it. 

The  humiliation  of  Ricci  was  the  only  thing  of 
which  Pius  VII.  could  boast,  on  his  return  to  Rome 
after  the  coronation  of  Napoleon.  After  this  circum- 
stance, the  ex-Bishop  led  a  languishing  life,  till  death 
put  an  end  to  his  sorrows  and  his  misfortunes. 

The  entire  life  of  Ricci  was  a  continued  series  of 
attacks  against  the  Court  of  Rome,  whose  pretensions 
to  the  inprescriptible  rights  of  governments  and  of 
people,  and  its  spiritual  despotism  over  the  clergy,  he 
never  ceased  to  combat.  He  unmasked  its  hypocrisy, 
he  exposed  its  ambition,  cupidity,  intrigues,  and  cabals^ 
and  citing  it  before  the  bar  of  the  civilized  world,  in 
the  name  of  reason,  justice,  and  religion,  he  menaced 
it  with  near  and  inevitable  destruction.  It  was  utterly 
impossible,  however,  that  any  agreement  could  exist 
between  a  power  which  flattered,  caressed,  and  exalted 
the  Jesuits,  by  every  means  it  possessed,  and  a  prelate, 
who  exposed  their  pernicious  system  of  morality,  their 
principles  subversive  of  society,  and  their  dangerous 
practices  of  superstitious  devotion. 

The  zeal  of  Ricci,  while  only  Yicar-o-eneral  of  Flo- 
21* 


246  SECRETS    OF 

rence,  for  the  re-establishment  of  ecclesiastical  studies, 
according  to  a  more  rational  plan  than  that  in  vogue, 
was  another  vexation,  which  the  Court  of  Rome  was 
not  more  ready  to  pardon  than  his  contempt  of  the  Je- 
suits. All  the  doctrines  which  they  received  were  fa- 
vorable to  a  system  of  that  universal  priesthood  they 
had  contributed  to  establish,  and  to  the  power  of  the 
Popes,  which  they  sustained.  Every  attempt  against 
the  scholastics  and  the  modern  casuists,  was  an  act  of 
hostility  against  the  Court  of  Rome.  Every  attempt 
to  direct  the  attention  of  the  clergy  to  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, and  to  give  some  authority  to  the  canons  ai]d 
the  fathers  of  the  primitive  Church,  was  a  breach 
made  in  the  temporal  authority  of  the  Pope.  It  was 
a  victory  ov^er  those  pretensions  to  spiritual  infallibility, 
which  are  continually  contradicting  the  words  of  those 
fathers  who  liv^ed  before  the  invention  of  this  absurd 
dogma. 

The  same  observation  may  be  made  in  respect  to 
Ricci's  activity  in  circulating  good  books,  "  which," 
said  this  enlightened  Bishop,  '•  all  the  world  ought 
to  be  acquainted  with,  as  the  province  of  truth  is  the 
patrimony  of  all  men  without  exception."  His  whole 
episcopacy  was  a  train  of  operations  to  exalt  learning, 
and  to  furnish  materials  proper  for  its  successful  pur- 
suit. 

But  that  which  most  of  all  tended  to  confirm  the 
enmity  of  the  Roman  Court  against  Ricci,  was  the 
affair  of  the  Dominicans  of  his  diocese.  Having  prov- 
ed to  the  whole  world  that  the  false  or  forced  virtues  of 
the  monks  and  nuns  are  but  a  tissue  of  hypocrisy,  and 
most  frequently  become  a  stimulant  to  the  most  odious 
vices  ;  having  shown  that  the  institutions  called  Virgi- 
nales  were  generally  schools  of  corruption  and  liber- 
tinism ;  having  at  length  brought  to  light  the  infamous 
viciousness  of  the  soi-distant  tribunal  of  penitence  ; 
these  were  unpardonable  crimes  in  the  eyes  of  one, 
whose  existence  as  well  as  authority  depended  on  the 
blindness  of  men  who  yielded  themselves  to  the  impu- 
,dent  jugglers  that  surrounded  his  throne.     But  how 


FEMALE    CONVENT^'.  247 

much  was  this  enmity  increased,  when  the  activity  of 
Ricci  made  it  appear  that  the  nuns,  the  monks,  their 
superiors,  even  the  chief  of  the  order,  and  the  Pope 
himself,  not  only  tolerated  these  disorders,  but  took  no 
measures  to  arrest  the  Dominicans  in  their  incredulity, 
impiety,  and  atheism,  or  to  prevent  their  everyday 
adding  new  victims  to  those  they  had  been  making  for 
nearly  a  century  and  a  half! 

Ricci  openly  assumed  the  ensigns  of  opposition  to 
the  Roman  Court.  He  frankly  entered  into  a  league, 
the  ranks  of  which  were  soon  filled  by  all  who  consid- 
ered the  existence  of  Rome  incompatible  with  the 
actual  state  of  society,  and  even  with  the  existence 
of  the  religion  on  which  the  Popes  founded  their 
authority. 

Ricci  was  in  public  correspondence  with  this  party, 
scattered  through  France,  Spain,  Germany,  and  Italy. 
He  was  nominally  so  with  the  Church  which  the  Jan- 
senists  had  established  in  Holland,  and  which,  by  offer- 
ing its  friendship  to  Rome,  amply  revenged  the  ana- 
themas hurled  against  it.  Now  Rome  could  not  refuse 
this  offer,  from  any  other  motive  than  because  she  was 
determined  to  trouble  every  State  in  which  the  Roman 
clergy  were  recognised  as  the  spiritual  guides  of  the 
people,  and  the  Pope  as  the  absolute  chief  of  the 
clergy. 

All  the  exertions  of  Ricci  seemed  to  render  him 
odious  to  the  bigoted  Papists.  The  reclaiming  of  his 
Episcopal  rights,  which  had  been  usurped  by  Rome, 
and  the  restoration  of  those  of  the  Cures,  were  dan- 
gerous examples  to  the  other  prelates,  who  had  any 
idea  of  the  democratic  organization  of  the  principles 
it  inculcated,  menaced  the  Popes  with  a  revolution 
which  would  make  them,  the  brothers  of  Bishops,  the 
brothers  of  their  cures  ;  and  which,  by  depriving  them 
of  the  power  of  riches  they  had  so  long  enjoyed,  would 
render  it  necessary  for  them  to  obtain  virtues  and 
talents,  which  could  alone  make  them  the  first  among 
their  equals. 

The  project  of  making  the  monks  useful   as  priests 


243  SECRETS    OF 

and  honest  citizens,  as  also  that  of  reforming  the  cate- 
chism, tended  to  deprive  the  Popes  of  their  most  fanat- 
ical emissaries,  and  to  free  rehgious  persons  from  the 
danger  of  being  deceived  by  their  glosses  and  artifices. 
The  plan  of  an  ecclesiastical  academy  completed  Ricci's 
system  ;  and  that  of  the  patrimony  of  the  clergy  deli- 
vered the  pastors  and  their  flocks  for  ever  from  all 
foreign  interference.  The  purifying  of  public  wor- 
ship from  superstitious  practices,  was  a  consequence  of 
this  system,  and  was  not  less  disagreeable  to  Rome 
than  the  other  reforms  ;  for  the  mummeries  with  which 
the  worship  of  the  Church  had  been  debased,  formed 
a  fruitful  source  of  gain. 

Rome  had  not  only  to  reproach  Ricci  with  what  he 
had  thus  done.  She  saw  him  voluntarily  resign  the 
excessive  and  abused  authority  which  had  been  given 
to  the  bishops,  as  the  head»-of  the  ecclesiastical  tribu- 
nals, called  officialites,  which  were  entirely  under  the 
control  of  the  Popes,  to  whom  the  former  were  hound 
hy  an  oath,  as  anti-religious  as  it  was  anti-national. 
Ricci,  to  extirpate  the  evil,  root  and  branch,  boldly  ex- 
claimed against  this  oath,  "by  which,"  said  he,  "bishops 
oblige  themselves  to  obey  a  foreign  jwince  f" 

But  the  grievance  which  Rome  made  a  reason  for 
the  most  violent  persecutions  of  its  author,  was  his 
having  reduced  all  his  principles,  maxims,  and  plans^ 
into  one  entire  system,  which  he  got  sanctioned  by  a 
synodal  assembly  of  his  diocess,  and  had  formed  into 
canons  after  the  usage,  recognised  as  regular  and  legal, 
of  the  primitive  Church. 

This  bold  enterprise  brought  down  upon  Ricci's 
head  the  thunders  of  the  Vatican,  and  persecutions 
which  were  directed  sometimes  by  cunning,  at  others, 
by  perfidy,  violence,  and  cruelty.  The  superior  clergy 
of  Tuscany  were  united  against  him  from  the  time  that 
Leopold  had  convoked  the  ecclesiastical  assembly. 
That  prince,  called  to  the  imperial  throne,  only  lived 
long  enough  to  see  his  cherished  work  of  Tuscan  re- 
formation overthrown  ;    and   Ricci   exposed,  without 


FEMALE    CONTENTS,  249 

defence,  to  the  hatred  of  his  enemies,  who  triumphed 
in  the  name  of  superstition  and  fanaticism. 

From  that  period,  the  ex-Bishop  remained  without 
authority,  and  in  voluntary  exile.  When,  worn  out  by 
lonof  suffering,  terrified  by  frightful  menaces,  and  de- 
ceived by  false  promises,  he  was  induced  to  condemn 
his  past  conduct,  and  sacrifice  his  reputation  ; — when 
even  the  Pope  himself  felt  touched  at  his  humble  resig- 
nation and  self  denial,  even  then  his  chief  persecutors, 
the  zealots  of  the  part^r,  would  not  leave  their  prey ; 
and  the  unfortunate  Prelate,  yielding  at  length  to  the 
maladies  which  had  been  brought  on  by  the  persecu- 
tions he  had  suffered,  expired,  after  having  experienced 
most  of  the  evils  which  Popish  vengeance  could  invent. 

The  concurrence  of  circumstances  which  abolished 
the  reforms  of  Leopold,  and  brought  on  the  destruction 
of  Ricci,  produced  important  consequences  in  favor  of 
Roman  despotism,  to  which'  great  credit  was  given  in 
the  eyes  of  the  people,  who  seldom  judge  of  enterprises 
but  by  their  issues.  The  bark  of  Peter  again  floated 
into  Tuscany  on  the  waves  of  fanaticism,  superstition, 
and  ignorance.  By  an  avaricious  aristocracy,  and  a 
vain  ministry,  that  bark — the  sails  of  which  were 
spread  Avider  than  ever ;  thanks  to  those  who  too  in- 
cautiously endeavored  to  sink  it,  and  to  the  military 
chief  who  made  use  of  it  to  help  him  out  of  the  stormy 
sea  of  revolutions — appeared  sustained  on  the  waters 
by  a  supernatural  power  ;  and  it  began  again  to  inspire 
respect  for  every  species  of  abuse. 

Liberty,  who  had  shown  herself  for  an  instant,  was 
soon  banished,  and  the  extraordinary  man  who,  with- 
out chaining  her  entirely,  had  fettered  her  as  much  as 
his  designs  required,  himself  soon  disappeared.  Again 
the  sacerdotal  power  obtained  its  full  authority  ;  but 
what  opprobrium  too  great  can  be  cast  upon  men, 
who,  united  to  their  fellow-creatures  neither  by  senti- 
ments^ principles,  interest,  nor  natural  ties,  seem^  to 
have  only  one  object,  that  of  deceiving  them  to  despoil 
them  ;  that  of  terrifying  them  with  a  false  character  of 
the  Divinity,  that  they  may  be  venerated  as  his  inter- 


SECRETS    OF 


preters,  and  of  abusing  them  with  an  affectation  of 
humihty,  that  they  may  make  them  their  servile  fol- 
lowers ! 

Ricci  is  a  proof  of  this.  His  memoir  teaches  us, 
not  to  regard  the  monastic  life  and  the  Roman  Court 
as  distinguished  by  the  ordinary  vices  of  men,  but  as 
rendered  odious  by  the  worst  of  crimes ;  as  not  mere- 
ly affording  much  to  excite  regret,  and  rouse  the  bold 
hand  of  reform,  but  as  a  vast  and  terrifying  system  of 
the  lowest  debauchery  and  infamy.  We  see  monks 
employing  the  name  and  authority  of  God  to  seduce 
the  young  females  under  their  care,  and  their  own 
nominally  most  sacred  rites  polluted  by  their  attempts. 
Those  priests  stand  before  us  as  atheists ;  not  even  re- 
garding, for  a  moment,  any  one  of  the  natural  move- 
ments of  the  heart  in  favor  of  virtue. 

The  General  of  the  order  of  Dominic,  an  order  by 
whom  so  much  innocent  blood  has  been  spilt,  and 
which  has  precipitated  so  many  estimable  men  into 
the  flames,  for  venturing  to  declare  they  thought  not 
as  the  Dominicans — the  General  of  that  order,  in 
Ricci's  time,  was  fully  aware  of  the  wickedness  of 
which  the  latter  complained.  His  indifference  to  them 
is  sufficient  evidence,  that  his  opinions  were  in  con- 
formity with  the  worst  abuses,  against  which  Ricci 
invoked  the  assistance  of  the  civil  power,  whose  first 
duty  is  to  watch  over  the  morals  of  the  people.  But 
the  General  and  his  Dominicans  professed,  in  toto, 
la  croyance  an  Pope — subjection  to  the  Pope  ;  that 
they  would  commit  any  crime  publicly^  to  support  the 
dogmas  on  which  the  pontifical  authority  rested,  and 
the  depraved  instruinents  of  tohich  they  in  secret  were. 
Ricci,  by  exposing  the  iniquities  of  the  order,  scandal- 
ized, but  could  not  injure  the  Court  of  Rome ;  and 
having  been  accused  of  not  helieving  the  Pope^  his 
destruction  followed  as  the  consequence. 

The  Pope  himself  was  at  the  head  of  that  dark  con- 
spiracy against  a  bishop,  whose  greatest  crime  was  his 
sincerity.  Knowing,  as  well  as  the  General  of  the 
Dominicans,  the  infidelity  of  the  order,  and  its  fatal 


FEMALE    CONVENTS.  251 

effects  ;  notwithstanding,  he  showed  no  feehng  of  hor- 
ror, and  was  equally  enraged  against  the  prelate,  who 
sacrificed  all  human  respect,  honors,  and  advantages, 
to  the  interests  of  virtue. 

Such  is  the  Papacy,  which  is  again  suffered  to  es- 
tablish itself;  which  men  fortify  again  with  its  ancient 
and  pernicious  errors ;  which  is  still  surrounded  with 
its  fanatical  and  yet  most  dangerous  adherents,  the 
Jesuits  ;  and  which  is  permitted  once  more  to  arm 
itself  with  the  scourges,  that  have  for  so  many  ages 
degraded  men,  and  devastated  the  world — the  scourge 
of  the  ferocious  and  frightful  tribunal  of  the  Inquisition. 
This  fatal  blindness  of  several  European  governments 
to  their  true  interests,  this  false  policy,  this  spirit  of 
baseness,  which  makes  them  prefer  the  passive  sub- 
mission of  a  people,  degraded  by  superstition,  to  the 
acquiescence  of  a  free  people  in  the  policy  of  a  prince, 
can  hardly  be  conceived  possible  at  such  a  period  as 
this — a  period  which  has  been  preceded  by  half  a  cen- 
tury, during  which  the  examination  of  every  question 
interesting  to  humanity  and  nations  has  been  debated 
in  the  most  profound  manner. 

For  the  honor  of  humanity,  we  trust  that  the  people 
at  least  will  recoil  from  the  chains  of  superstition  again 
forged  for  their  minds.  Every  species  of  liberty  is  fal- 
lacious, that  is  not  founded  on  the  basis  of  truth  and 
knowledge ;  for  no  human  power  can  preserve  men  in 
a  state  of  slavery,  but  when  the  belief  is  current,  that 
some  of  their  fellow-creatures  are  destined  by  Provi- 
dence to  render  the  rest  of  mankind  miserable. 

Let  us  suppose  for  an  instant,  that  we  could  annihi- 
late the  rising  spirit  of  the  times ;  let  us  suppose  in- 
fancy subjected  to  the  Ignorantins,  youth  to  the 
Jesuits,  mature  age  to  the  Inquisitors, — what  horrors 
would  not  follow  !  How  many  steps  would  not  civi- 
lization retrograde  ! 

Who  will  deny,  that  the  people  have  made  immense 
progress  in  solid  improvement,  since  the  year  1789  ? 
Who  does  not  believe,  that  the  French  at  the  end  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  were  as  much  above  those  of 


252  SECRETS    OF    FEMALE    CONVENTS. 

the  age  of  Louis  XIV.,  as  the  wise  and  just  Leopold 
was  superior  to  the  degraded  Cosmo  IIL  ? 

Why  does  not  reform  continue  to  proceed  from  the 
throne?  It  was  the  duty  of  kings  to  continue  the  bril- 
hant  reforms  of  the  philosophical  Joseph  and  Leopold. 
Unfortunately,  in  their  time,  the  people  were  not  pre- 
pared to  receive  their  excellent  systems  ;  but  now,  that 
they  are  so,  will  kings  refuse  to  establish  their  freedom 
and  happiness  on  the  immovable  basis  of  humanity 
and  truth  ? 

It  was  a  Roman  Catholic  Bishop,  who  called  for  re- 
form in  the  time  of  Leopold,  who  confessed  that  this 
reform  was  absolutely  necessary,  because  society  was 
menaced  with  evils  which  demanded  a  sure  and  im- 
mediate remedy.  His  predictions  have  been  verified. 
The  people  have  been  driven  to  extremity ;  their  go- 
vernments have  resisted  their  just  desires,  and  confu- 
sion has  been  the  consequence.  But  the  struggle  is 
not  at  au  end  ;  and  whatever  be  the  obstacles,  the 
cause  of  justice  and  humanity  must  at  length  prevail. 

Why  are  there  no  more  Riccis? — why  are  the  men 
who  are  moved  by  a  like  spirit,  without  power  or  in- 
fluence ?  They  would  give  new  force  to  the  benevo- 
lent religion  of  Christ ;  a  religion  which  a  false  zeal, 
a  base  superstition,  and  the  intolerance  of  the  priest- 
hood, have  tended  so  materially  to  debase. 

A  party  wliich  labors  for  the  restoration  of  darkness 
and  superstition,  carries  the  germ  of  its  own  destruc- 
tion ;  for  the  only  base  on  which  it  could  establish 
itself  is  wanting — the  ignorance  of  the  people.  That 
change  will  take  place  ;  but  it  has  on  the  one  side 
many  obstacles  to  overcome,  combats  to  sustain,  and 
sacrifices  to  make ;  on  the  other,  there  are  many  inte- 
rests to  destroy  !  Bat  the  whole  subject  resolves  itself 
into  a  simple  question :  Is  any  government  authorized 
by  a  divine  law,  to  debase  its  subjects  into  ignorant 
slaves  ;  or  any  priesthood  to  convert  them  into  imbe- 
cile monsters  ? 


APPENDIX 


A.— Page  13. 

"The  history  of  monastics,  "  observes  Mr.  Mackray,  "  exhibits  in 
full  view  the  melancholy  truth,  that  their  hearts  were  corrupted  with 
the  worst  passions  that  diso-race  humanity,  and  that  the  discipline  of 
the  convent  is  seldom  productive  of  a  sinorle  virtue.  The  prelates  ex- 
ceeded the  inferior  clergy  in  every  kind  ofproflio-acy,  as  much  as  in  opu- 
lence ind  power;  and,  of  course,  their  superintendino:  and  visitorial 
authority  was  not  exerted  to  lessen  or  restrain  the  prevalence  of  those 
vices,  which  their  evil  example  contributed  so  largely  to  increase.  If 
a  really  pious,  vigilant,  and  austere  prelate  arose  amidst  the  general 
dissoluteness  of  the  a^e,  his  single  efforts  to  reclaim  those  sohtary 
ecclesiastics  were  seldom  attended  with  success. 

"  Boccace,  by  his  witty  and  ingenious  tales,  very  severely  satirized 
the  licentiousness  and  immorality  which  prevailed  during  his  time,  in 
the  Italian  monasteries  ;  but,  by  exposing  the  scandalous  lives,  and 
lashing  the  vices  of  the  monks,  nuns,  and  other  orders  of  the  Roman 
priesthood,  he  has  been  decried  as  a  contemner  of  religion,  and  as  an 
enemy  to  true  piety.  Contemporary  historians  have  also  delivered  the 
most  disgusting  accounts  of  their  intemperance  and  debauchery.  The 
frailty,  indeed,  of  the  female  monastics,  was  even  an  article  of  regular 
taxation  ;  and  the  Pope  did  not  disdain  to  fill  his  coffers  with  the  price 
of  their  impurities.  The  frail  nun,  whether  she  had  become  immured 
within  a  convent,  or  still  resided  without  its  walls,  mi^ht  redeem  her 
lost  honor,  and  be  reinstated  in  her  former  dignity  and  virtue,  for  a  {ew 
ducats.  This  scandalous  traffic  was  carried  to  an  extent  that  soon 
destroyed  all  sense  of  morality,  and  heiij-htened  the  hue  of  vice. 
Ambrosius  of  Canadoli,  a  prelate  of  extraordinary  virtue,  visited 
various  convents  in  his  diocess;  but,  on  inspecting  their  proceedings, 
he  found  no  traces  even  of  decency  remaining  in  any  one  of  them  ; 
nor  was  he  able,  with  all  the  sacracity  he  exercised  on  the  subject,  to 
reinfuse  the  smallest  particle  of  these  qualities  into  the  degenerated 
minds  of  the  sisterhood.  The  reform  of  the  nunneries  was  the  first 
step  that  distinguished  the  government  of  Sixtus  IV.,  after  he  ascended 
the  Papal  throne,  at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Bossus,  a 
celebrated  canon,  of  the  strictest  principles,  and  a  most  inflexible  dis- 
position, was  the  agent  selected  by  the  Pontiff  for  that  arduous 
achievement.  The  Genoese  convents,  where  the  nuns  lived  in  open 
defiance  of  all  the  rules  of  decency  and  the  precepts  of  religion,  were 
22 


254  APPENDIX. 

the  first  objects  of  his  attention.  The  orations  which  he  pubUcIy 
uttered  from  the  pulpit,  as  well  as  the  private  lectures  and  exhortations 
which  he  delivered  to  the  nuns  from  the  confessional  chair,  were  fine 
models,  not  only  of  his  zeal  and  probity,  but  of  his  literature  and  elo- 
quence. They  breathed,  in  the  most  impressive  manner,  the  true 
spirit  of  Christian  purity  ;  but  his  glowing  representations  of  the 
bright  beauties  of  virtue  and  the  dark  deformities  of  vice,  made  little 
impression  upon  their  corrupted  hearts.  Despising  the  open  calum- 
nies of  the  envious,  and  the  secret  hostilities  of  the  guilty,  he  pro- 
ceeded, in  spite  of  all  discouragement  and  opposition,  in  his  highly 
honorable  pursuit ;  and,  at  length,  by  his  wisdom  and  assiduity, 
beheld  the  fairest  prospects  of  success  daily  opening  to  his  view.  The 
arm  of  magistracy,  which  he  had  called  upon  to  aid  the  accomplish- 
ment of  his  design,  was  enervated  by  the  venality  of  its  hand  ;  and 
the  incorrigible  objects  of  his  solicitude  having  freed  themselves,  by 
bribery,  from  the  terror  of  the  civil  power,  contemned  the  reformer's 
denunciations  of  eternal  vengeance  hereafter,  and  relapsed  into  their 
former  licentiousness  and  depravity.  A  few,  indeed,  among  the  great 
number  of  nuns  who  inhabited  these  guilty  convents,  were  converted 
by  the  force  of  his  eloquent  remonstrances,  and  became  afterwards 
highly  exemplary  by  their  virtue,  but  the  rest  abandoned  themselves 
to  their  impious  courses;  and,  though  more  vigorous  methods  were, 
in  a  short  time,  adopted  against  the  refractory  monastics,  they  set  all 
attempts  to  reform  them  at  defiance.  The  modes,  perhaps,  in  which 
their  vices  were  indulged,  have  changed  with  the  character  of  the  age ; 
and,  as  manners  grew  more  refined,  the  gross  and  shameful  indul- 
gences of  the  monks  and  nuns  have  been  changed  into  a  more  elegant 
and  decent  style  of  enjoyment.  Fashion  has  rendered  them  more 
prudent  and  reserved  in  their  intrigues,  but  their  passions  are  not  less 
vicious,  nor  their  dispositions  less  corrupt." 

Such  is  the  record  of  monastic  profligacy  and  corruption;  and, 
when  we  think  how  the  monks  were  regarded  by  the  people  with  the 
profoundest  reverence,  and,  moreover,  with  what  swarms  of  them 
Europe  was  filled — "friars,  white,  black,  and  gray  ;  canons  regular, 
and  of  St.  Anthony;  Carmelites,  Carthusians,  Cordeliers,  Dominicans, 
Franciscans  Conventual  and  Observanlines,  Jacobines,  Remonstra- 
tensians.  Monks  of  Tyronne  and  of  Valhs  Caulium,  Hospitallers,  or 
Knights  of  John  of  Jerusalem  ;  Nuns  of  Austin,  Clare,  Scholastica, 
Catherine  of  Sienna;  with  Canonesses  of  various  clans," — we  cannot 
entertain  a  doubt,  that  the  contagion  of  their  example  operated  with 
most  debasing  and  corrupting  efl^ect  upon  the  character  of  mankind. 
What  must  have  been  the  condition  of  morality,  when  its  professed 
teachers  were  so  immoral  ?  What,  in  the  view  of  the  God  of  truth 
and  purity,  must  be  the  turpitude  of  that  system,  or  of  that  widely  ex- 
tended institution,  which,  for  more  than  a  thousand  years,  spread  its 
unhallowed  influence  over  a  great  portion  of  the  world,  and  triumphed 
in  the  overthrow  of  all  that  is  virtuous  and  noble  in  the  character  of 
man? 

B.— Page  14. 

At  the  period  of  the  Reformation,  learning  had  ceased  to  dwell  in 
the  solitudes  of  monachism.  The  age  of  darkness  had  passed  away, 
never  more  to  return  ;  the  art  of  printing  had  unlocked  the  storehouses 
of  ancient  literature,  and  sent  abroad  their  treasures  for  the  good  of 


APPENDIX.  255 

mankind ;  and  thus  there  was  not  left  the  shadow  of  reason  for  the 
longer  endurance  of  these  incumbrances  on  the  states  of  Europe  ; — 
and,  preni'nant  as  they  palpably  were  with  many  very  serious  evils, 
there  was  the  most  urgent  necessity  for  their  removal.  This  the  pro- 
gress of  knowledge  effected.  These  institutions,  the  birth  of  an  igno- 
rant and  superstitious  age,  fell  before  the  brightness  of  the  light  of 
truth;  and,  at  their  dismemberment,  was  unfolded  more  strikingly 
than  ever  had  been  done  before  their  incorrigible  depravity. 

Great  have  been  the  lamentations  respecting  the  alleged  outrages 
of  the  Reformation ;  that  literature  will  never  recover  from  the 
disaster  which  it  sustained  by  the  loss  of  the  thousands  of  precious 
volumes,  which,  with  the  monasteries  that  contained  them,  were, 
by  the  barbarous  fury  of  the  Reformers,  consigned  to  destruction ; 
and  that  the  demolition — occasioned  by  the  Reforniation — of  the 
splendid  edifices  appropriated  to  monachism,  inflicted  a  misfortune  on 
the  fine  arts  which  is  absolutely  irretrievable.  Those  stately  fabrics, 
it  is  said,  the  illustrious  produce  of  immense  labor  and  expense — on 
which  all  the  taste  and  genius  of  the  world  were  lavished,  and  which 
seemed  destined  to  perpetuate  through  all  time  the  triumphs  of  art,  are 
now  in  ruins;  and  the  superb  arches,  the  lofty  columns,  the  moulder- 
ing walls,  of  those  once  glorious  structures — the  melancholy  remains 
of  such  a  magnificent  creation  of  art  and  genius — present  to  the  eye 
of  the  seientific  observer,  a  scene  of  devastation,  for  which  all  the 
benefits  of  the  Reformation  will  never  atone  ! 

Now,  much  of  this  expression  of  regret  is  groundless,  and  with  it 
we  cannot  sympathize.  That  the  monastic  libraries,  at  the  time  of 
the  Reformation,  were  furnished  with  many — or,  indeed,  with  any  very 
valuable  works,  is  a  mere  unwarranted  assumption.  For  more  than 
half  a  century  had  the  press  been  in  vigorous  operation,  and,  during 
that  period,  all  in  literature  that  was  really  valuable  had  been  drawn 
from  obscurity  ;  nor,  distinguished  as  the  Reformers  were  for  their 
regard  to  learning,  and,  in  several  very  splendid  instances,  for  their 
literary  acquirements  above  all  their  contemporaries,  is  there  the 
smallest  ground  to  doubt,  that,  if  any  of  these  literary  monuments  re- 
mained, they  would  have  been  the  objects  of  their  search  and  careful 
preservation.  We  have  positive  information  respecting  the  state  of 
some  of  the  monastic  libraries,  which,  in  the  absence  of  contrary  evi- 
dence, may  be  regarded  as  a  specimen  of  the  condition  of  the  rest. 
"[n  the  life  of  Knox,  the  Scottish  Reformer,  we  have  an  enumeration 
of  the  contents  of  several  of  these  pretended  receptacles  of  learning, 
which  appear  to  have  been  despicable  in  the  extreme.  Legends  of 
saints,  pastorales,  graduales,  missals,  breviaries,  and  other  writings  of 
a  similar  description,  were  the  precious  stores,  for  destroying  which 
the  Reformation  has  been  branded  with  epithets  of  the  most  odious 
kind," 


AWFUL  CONSEQUENCES  OF    PAPAL  INFLUENCE  AND  PAPAL 
DOMINION. 

Proh  Dolor  I  hos  tolerare  potest  Ecclesia  Forces 
Duntaxat  Ventri,  Veneri,  Somnoquc,  vacantcs  ? 
It  is  amazing  that  the  Christian  religion,  whose  characteristic  is 
ove  and  humility,  should  be  so  far  debased,  as  to  carry  no  other 


AT 


256 


APPENDIX. 


marks  than  those  of  cruelty  and  pride  ;  that  vows  of  poverty  should 
entitle  men  to  the  riches  of  the  whole  world  ;  that  professions  of  chas- 
tity should  fill  countries  with  uncleanness  ;  that  solitary  anchorites 
should  eno-ross  the  pomps  of  the  city  ;  and  that  the  servant  of  servants 
should  become  the  kin^j^  of  kinoes  ;  but  what  contradictions  are  not 
designincr  men  capable  of,  when  the  enlarD:ement  of  their  power  is  in 
view?  For  this  end,  auricular  confession  was  introduced;  a  new 
hell  of  purgatory  was  invented  ;  and  the  power  of  creating  even  their 
own  God,  was  blasphemously  assumed.  By  these  arts,  came  the 
secrets  of  families  into  the  hands  of  the  priests  ;  by  these  arts,  they 
seized  on  the  purses  of  whole  nations  ;  and  by  these  arts,  they  arrived 
to  be  idols  of  the  people,  who  were  glad  to  part  with  their  estates,  with 
their  liberties,  and  their  senses  also,  to  these  spiritual  usurpers. 

Not  to  mention  the  follies  of  other  nations.  British  chronicles  in- 
form us  to  what  a  degree  bigotry  once  prevailed,  of  which  let  this  in- 
stance suffice.  John  Bab,  an  author  of  unquestioned  fidelity,  who 
was  himself  a  Carmelite  friar,  informs  us,  in  his  acts  of  English  Vo- 
taries, that  in  the  year  1017,  King  Canute,  by  the  superstitious  coun- 
sel of  Achelnotus,  then  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  was  prevailed 
upon  to  believe  that  monks'  bastards  were  his  own  children,  and  that 
Fulbertus,  the  old  Bishop  of  Carnote  in  France,  was  even  then  suck- 
led by  the  Virgin  Mary  :  nor  did  he  stop  here,  but  after  having  bur- 
dened the  land  with  the  payment  of  that  Romish  tribute  called  Peter's 
pence,  he  went  to  Winchester,  where,  by  the  aforementioned  Bishop's 
advice,  he  formally  resigned  his  regal  crown  to  an  image,  constituting 
it  then  king  of  Englancl ! 

Thus  was  a  mighty  king  converted  to  be  the  tool  of  his  priests, 
and  thereby  became  the  darling  of  the  Church,  whose  practice  then 
was,  not  only  to  feed  upon  the  spoils  of  the  people,  but  even  to  make 
their  monarch  a  prey  to  their  ambition.  And  in  those  times  a  prince 
acquired  the  title  of  good  or  bad,  not  from  his  conduct  in  the  secular 
government  of  his  subjects,  but  according  as  he  was  either  more  or 
less,  a  promoter  of  the  grandeur  of  his  clergy.  Thus  Canute,  though 
an  usurper  and  a  tyrant  could  merit  a  canonization  ;  whilst  John, 
from  whom  was  received  that  great  security  of  their  liberties,  the 
Statute  of  Magna  Charta,  merely  for  not  encouraging  the  corruptions 
and  spiritual  tyranny  of  the  Romish  Church,  was  branded  with  the 
name  of  Apostate,  and  forced  at  length,  by  an  usurping  priesthood, 
to  hold  his  crown  as  tributary  to  the  see  of  Rome.  When  the  kings 
were  thus  managed,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  laity  followed  their  ex- 
ample submitting-  their  necks  to  the  same  priestly  yoke. 

The  reader  will  be  curious  to  know,  how  the  spiritual  societies  came 
to  possess  such  prodigious  temporal  estates  :  for  the  amount  of  the 
property  owned  by  the  monks  prior  to  the  Reformation  included  from 
fourteen  to  seventeen  parts  out  of  twenty  of  the  whole  land  of  the  dif- 
ferent nations.  The  first  monks  we  read  of  were  in  the  middle  of  the 
third  century  ;  men  whom  the  persecution  of  the  heathen  emperors 
compelled  to  live  in  deserts,  and  who  being  by  a  long  course  of  soli- 
tude, rendered  unfit  for  human  society,  chose  to  continue  in  their  mo- 
nastic way,  even  after  the  true  cause  of  it  ceased. 

The  example  of  these  men  was  soon  followed  by  a  number  of  crazy 
devotees,  who  were  so  ignorant  of  true  religion,  as  to  think  that  their 
way  to  heaven  lay  through  wild  and  uninhabited  deserts,  and  who, 
finding  that  they  had  not  charity  enough  to  observe  the  precept  of 
Christ,  of  « loving  their  neighbor  as  themselves,"  were  resolved  to 


APPENDIX.  257 

have  no  neighbors  at  all ;  thereby  frustratinor  the  design  of  Chris- 
tianity, which  was  to  establish  the  ^ood  of  society. 

The  next  monks  were  a  set  of  worthless,  but  ambitious  wretclies, 
who,  havinor  no  way  of  making  themselves  famous  in  the  world,  re^ 
tired  out  of  it ;  where  they  reverenced  idle  ceremonies  of  their  own 
institution,  where  they  pretended  conference  with  angels,  with  the 
Virgin  Mary,  and  even  with  God  Almighty  ;  not  unlike  Numa,  the 
high-priest  of  the  heathen  Romish  Church,  who  abused  the  people 
with  stories  of  his  nightly  interviews  in  a  cave  with  the  goddess  JEge- 
ria.  At  length,  these  holy  cheats,  to  gain  yet  more  veneration,  began 
to  practice  on  their  bodies  the  most  cruel  severities,  till  at  last  they 
were  worshipped  by  the  thoughtless  mob  as  saints  :  imitating,  in 
some  measure,  the  example  of  that  heathen  monk,  Empedocles,  who, 
to  be  thought  a  God,  leapt  into  the  burnino-  mount  ^tna. 

After  this,  designing  men,  who  saw  how  great  an  influence  these 
pretended  saints  had  over  mankind,  took  upon  themselves  the  same 
exterior  form  of  godliness,  thereby  not  only  to  raise  an  empty  name, 
as  the  former  had  done,  but  to  enrich  themselves  at  the  expense  of 
the  J  deluded  multitude.  Hence  flowed  those  many  profitable  reli- 
gious maxims  : — "  that  to  give  to  the  Church,  was  charity  towards 
God,  and  as  such,  would  atone  for  a  multitude  of  sins,  were  they  ever 
so  heinous, — that  the  Church  was  not  the  congregation  of  the  faithful, 
as  Paul  fancied  it  to  be,  but  the  body  of  the  priests  : — that  the  priest, 
though  ever  so  like  the  de%nl,  was  God's  representative,  and  ought  to 
be  honored  as  such  : — that  there  was  such  a  place  as  purgatory,  and 
that  the  prayers  of  monks  like  Orpheus'  harp,  was  the  only  music 
that  could  mollify  the  tyrant  of  that  place,  who,  being  their  very  good 
friend,  would  release  a  poor  soul  at  any  time  for  their  sake  :  that  whis- 
pering all  secrets  in  the  ear  of  a  priest,  was  the  only  cure  for  a  sick 
soul : — that  every  priest  had  the  power  of  pardoning-  all  sins,  except 
those  only  which  were  committed  against  himself: — that  indulgences 
purchased  in  fee,  could  entitle  a  man  and  his  heirs  to  merit  heaven  by 
sinning  : — and  lastly,  that  the  priest  could  by  virtue  of  a  hocus  pocus, 
quit  scores  with  his  Creator  b>'  creating  him.''''  These,  and  such  like 
money-catching  tenets,  soon  drew  the  whole  wealth  of  the  laity  into 
the  hands  of  these  contemners  of  the  world,  and  all  its  pomps  and 
vanities  ;  who  not  only  flourished  in  l^gypt  and  Italy,  where  they  first 
sprang  up,  but  were  spread  through  all  Christendom,  and  began 
quickly  to  vie  in  power  and  riches  with  the  greatest  monarchs,  even 
in  their  own  territories,  till,  at  last,  kings  and  princes  themselves,  were 
proud  of  becoming  monks  and  abbots. 

A  minute  detail  of  the  divers  religious  orders  which  swarmed  in  all 
parts  of  Europe  is  unnecessary.  The  portraiture  of  those  who  de- 
voured and  consumed  Britain  will  exhibit  a  correct  specimen  of  the 
whole  fraternity. 

Benedictines. — The  first  of  these  that  prevailed,  was  the  order  of 
the  Benedictines,  whose  rule  was  introduced  into  Britain  by  Augus- 
tin  the  monk,  in  the  year  596.  The  founder  of  this  order  was  Bcnnet, 
who  in  his  own  life  time  erected  twelve  monasteries.  The  rules  that 
he  left  behind  him,  although  the  papists  afiirm  that  they  were  dictated 
to  him  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  are  stuftied  with  the  most  trifling  and  su- 
perstitious ceremonies  ;  and  his  whole  seventy-three  chapters  contain 
but  four  wholesome  precepts,  two  of  which  only,  that  relate  to  eating 
and  drinkino;,  his  followers  observe  ;  neglecting  the  other  two,  which 
are  the  fundamentals  of  their  order,  enjoining  humility  and  poverty  ; 
22* 


258  APPENDIX. 

for  in  his  Beventh  chapter,  Bennet  assigns  twelve  degrees  of  humility 
for  his  monks  to  practice  t  which  how  well  they  comply  with,  you 
may  find  by  the  humble  titles  of  the  abbots  of  Mount  Cassin,  the 
head  monastery  of  his  order,  of  which  himself  was  first  abbot!  "Pa- 
triarch of  the  Sacred  Religion,  Abbot  of  the  Sacred  Monastery  of 
Mount  Cassin,  Duke  and  Prince  of  all  Abbots  and  Religions,  Vice 
Chancellor  of  the  kingdom  of  both  the  Sicilies,  of  Jerusalem,  of 
Hungaria,  Count  and  Governor  of  Campania,  and  Terra  de  Lavoro, 
and  of  the  Maritime  Province,  Vice  Emperor,  and  Prince  of  Peace." 
In  his  fifty-ninlh  chapter,  he  enjoins  poverty  to  all  his  disciples  ;  and 
in  obedience  to  this  rule,  the  above  mentioned  monastery  of  Mount 
Cassin  have  so  renoimced  the  world,  as  to  be  possessed  but  of  "  four 
bishopricks,  two  dukedoms,  twenty  counties,  thirty-six  cities,  two 
hundred  castles,  three  hundred  territories,  four  hundred  and  forty  vil- 
lages, three  hundred  and  six  farms,  twenty  three  sea  ports,  thirty-three 
islands,  two  hundred  mills,  and  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty- 
two  churches."  This  was  their  holy  poverty  ;  and  thus  you  may  see 
how  religiously  these  ten  rules  have  been  observed,  and  how  spiritu- 
ally the  followers  of  Bennet  retreated  from  the  world  in  Italy  ;  who 
were  soon  imitated  in  some  of  these  kinds  of  holy  self-denials,  by 
their  pious  brethren  in  England,  as  you  may  learn  from  the  vast  num- 
bers of  rich  abbeys  which  the  Benedictines  possessed.  These  were 
the  humble  priests  from  whom  King  Henry  II.  received  the  disciphne 
of  eighty  lashes,  for  having  like  an  undutiful  son  of  the  Church,  dared 
to  contend  in  power  with  their  patron  Thomas-a-Bccket,  whose  stirrup 
he  had  been  obliu^ed  to  hold,  whilst  that  meek  prelate  mounted. 

As  these  monks  began  to  be  notorious  to  the  world  for  their  obsce- 
nities and  luxur}- ;  in  the  year  912,  Oden  Abbot  of  Cluny,  took  upon 
him  to  correct  their  abuses,  and  gave  rise  to  the  Clnniacs  ;  who  were 
the  same  year  translated  by  Alphreda,  Glueen  of  England  ;  for  who 
more  proper  to  promote  superstition  than  a  zealous  ignorant  woman  ! 
However,  to  show  how  thoroughly  these  men  reformed  upon  Bennet's 
followers,  especially  in  point  of  humility,  they  were  not  settled  one 
whole  century,  before  the  Abbot  of  Cluny  contested  the  title  of  Abbot 
of  Abbots,  with  those  of  Mount  Cassin, 

Carthusians. — The  next  order  was  that  of  the  Carthusians,  first 
established  in  the  year  10S6,  in  the  desert  of  Chartreuse  in  Grenoble, 
by  one  Bruno,  who  was  thereunto  moved  by  hearing  a  dead  man  cry 
out  three  times,  "  That  Iv  was  condemned  by  the  just  judgment  of 
God  ;"  which  was  a  very  plain  precept  for  building  monasteries  !  This 
man  professod^To  follow  the  rule  of  Bennet,  adding  thereunto  many 
great  austerities  by  way  of  reformation  ;  amongst  others  he  ordained, 
that  they  ought  to  be  satisfied  with  a  very  little  space  of  ground  about 
their  ceils,  after  which,  let  the  whole  world  be  offered  unto  them,  they 
ought  not  to  desire  a  foot  more.  This,  they  have  construed  to  signify 
a  foot  .more  than  the  whole  world  :  for  their  cells  even  in  Bernard's 
time,  became  stately  palaces,  and  their  little  spaces  of  ground,  stretch- 
ed them.selves  into  great  tracts  of  land.  They  first  settled  themselves 
in  England  in  the  year  1180,  and  in  a  very  short  time  had  gained  as 
much  wealth  by  their  vows  of  poverty  as  any  other  order. 

Cislerclans. — -They  were  so  called  from  Citeaux,  where  they  first 
assembled  ;  and  soon  after  admitted  Bernard  for  their  head,  whence 
they  are  styled  Bernardines,  who  were  another  reformation  upon  the 
Benedictines. 

Bernard  himself  founded  one  hundred  and  sixty  monasteries  ;  who 


APPENDIX.  259 

at  first  would  have  no  possessions,  but  lived  by  alms,  and  the  labor 
of  their  own  hands  ;  which  being  too  apostolic  a  life  for  monks,  they 
soon  grew  as  weary  of  poverty  and  industry  as  their  neighbors  ;  and 
in  a  little  time  rivalled  those,  upon  whom  they  pretended  to  reform, 
in  wealth,  luxury,  wantonness,  and  such  like  monkish  virtues.  At 
their  first  institution,  they  wore  black  monkish  habits,  till  the  Virgin 
Mary,  out  of  her  great  love  to  these  fat  friars,  came  down  from 
heaven  on  purpose  to  reform  their  dress,  as  being  the  most  essential 
part  of  their  order.  She  appeared  herself  to  their  second  abbot, 
bringing  a  white  cowl  in  her  hand,  which  she  put  upon  his  head,  and 
at  the  same  instant,  the  cowls  of  all  the  monks,  then  singing  in  the 
choir,  were  miraculously  turned  to  the  same  color.  Thus  did  the 
Virgin  change  the  habits  of  the  Cistercians  from  black  to  white,  as 
they  had  before  altered  their  lives,  from  a  sad,  melancholy  retirement, 
to  a  merry,  jovial  society — black  being  no  more  fit  for  a  jolly  priest, 
than  white  is  for  a  mournful  penitent.  Besides,  the  '■^  old  monk  Satan" 
being  represented  as  black,  the  Virgin  was  unwilling  that  her  friends 
should  be  like  him  in  dress,  though  they  resembled  him  in  every 
thing  else.  These  locusts  swarmed  first  in  England,  about  the  year 
1132,  and  continued  there  in  the  exercise  of  their  sanctity;  a  remark- 
able instance  of  which  was  their  poisoning  of  King  John  at  Swines- 
head,  in  Lincolnshire,  an  abbey  of  the  Cistercian  order. 

Canons. — There  was  another  sort  of  religious  order  in  the  Church 
of  Rome,  who  were  called  Canons.  These  were  to  live  in  common, 
and  to  have  but  one  table,  one  purse,  and  one  dormitory.  But  as 
many  of  them  began  to  abate  of  the  strictness  of  their  first  rules,  a 
new  sect  sprang  up,  that  pretended  to  reform  upon  the  rest,  and  these 
were  called  Regular,  whereas  the  others,  by  way  of  reproach,  were 
styled  Secular.  When  Canons  began,  is  not  certain  ;  but  the  first 
Regulars  we  read  of,  are  those  whom  Pope  Alexander  II.  sent  from 
Lucca  to  John  Lateran.  The  Regular  Canons  were  so  irregular, 
and  guilty  of  such  abominable  crimes,  that  even  Pope  Boniface  VIII, 
was  forced  to  drive  them  away,  and  for  the  peace  of  the  Church,  to 
place  Secular  Canons  in  their  room.  Beriners,  in  the  year  636,  first 
introduced  those  Augustinians  into  England,  who  strictly  followed 
the  example  of  their  brethren  of  John  Lateran. 

Prcemonstraienses. — They  followed  the  same  rule  with  the  former, 
were  founded  by  Norbert,  about  the  year  1120,  at  a  place  which  the 
Virgin  pointed  out  to  him,  and  which  therefore  was  pre-monstre,  or 
foreshown.  These  monks,  to  get  a  greater  esteem  in  the  world  after 
the  death  of  their  founder,  published  ihat  he  had  received  his  rule, 
curiously  bound  in  gold,  from  the  hands  of  Austin  himself,  who 
appeared  to  him  one  night,  and  said  thus:  "  Here  is  the  rule  that 
I  have  written,  and  if  my  brethren  observe  it,  they,  like  my  children, 
need  to  fear  nothing  at  all  in  the  day  of  judgment."  Indeed,  those 
fathers,  for  their  great  security  in  the  last  day,  have  firmly  adhered  to 
one  of  his  precepts,  that  commands  them  to  love  one  another.  What 
confirms  this  suspicion  is,  their  declaration  in  the  year  1273  ;  in 
which,  after  having  acknowledged  that  women  are  worse  than  the 
most  venomous  aspics  and  dragons,  they  resolved  never  to  have  any 
more  to  do  with  them. 

Gilbertlnes. — The  next  order  is  that  of  Gilbert,  a  little  crooked 
schoolmaster,  born  in  Lincolnshire,  who,  by  reason  of  his  deformity, 
despairing  to  bring  the  women  to  answer  his  lewd  inclinations  in  a 
secular  manner,  was  resolved  to  make  religion  subservient  to  hie 


*260  APPENDIX. 

purposes ;  and  to  this  end  he  founded  thirteen  monasteries,  coritaining 
both  sexes  together,  to  the  number  of  seven  hundred  men,  and  fifteen 
hundred  women.  This  order  of  the  Gilbertines;,  was  estabhshed  at 
Sempringham,  in  1148,  and  was  thence  called  the  Sempringham 
order  ;  but  their  disijustinH'  characteristics  exhibit  such  an  outrasfe  on 
common  decency,  that  dehcacy  compels  us  to  suppress  further  par- 
ticulars. 

Mnthxirines. — They  were  so  called  from  their  founder  John  Matha, 
were  likewise  styled  Trinitarians,  because  they  lay  under  an  obliga- 
tion of  dedicating  all  tlieir  churches  to  the  Holy  Trinity  ;  they  pro- 
fessed the  rules  of  Austin,  and  added  to  them  several  others  ;  among 
which  is  that  remarkable  one  of  ridinof  upon  an  ass,  the  only  thing 
in  which  I  can  find  that  those  fathers  imitated  Christ.  They  were 
instituted  in  the  year  1257.  The  professed  original  design  of  their 
establishment,  was  for  the  enlargement  of  captives;  and  whatsoever 
substance  fell  into  their  hands,  was  to  be  divided  into  three  equal 
parts  ;  one  of  which  was  to  be  remitted  to  Christian  slaves  for  their 
redemption,  whilst  the  other  two  were  to  remain  in  possession  of  these 
charitable  bankers,  as  a  satisfaction  for  their  great  pains  in  making 
such  a  return,  which  a  merciful  Jew  would  have  done  more  faithfully, 
and  for  a  tenth  part  of  the  reward.  But,  two  parts  in  three  beino^  too 
scanty  a  recompence  for  the  great  toil  of  a  lazy  friar,  those  Mathu- 
rines,  having  no  other  God  but  money,  to  approve  themselves  true 
Trinitarians  to  that  deity,  often  cheated  the  poor  captive  of  his  thiid 
part,  rather  than  they  would  divide  the  substance. 

This  was  the  ceremony  of  the  Ass.  In  several  churches  in  France, 
in  early  ages,  they  celebrated  a  festival  in  commemoration  of  the 
Virgin  Mary's  fliglit  into  Egypt.  It  was  called  the  Feast  of  the  Ass, 
A  young  girl  richly  dressed,  with  a  child  in  her  arms,  was  set  upon 
an  ass  superbly  caparisoned  ;  the  ass  was  led  to  the  altar  in  solemn 
procession  ;  High  Mass  was  said  in  great  pomp  ;  the  ass  was  taught 
to  kneel  in  proper  places  ;  a  hymn,  no  less  childish  than  impious, 
was  sung  in  his  praise  ;  and  when  the  ceremony  was  ended,  the 
priest,  instead  of  the  usual  words  with  which  he  dismissed  the  peo- 
ple, brayed  three  times  like  an  ass;  and  the  people,  instead  of  their 
usual  response,  we  bless  the  Lord,  brayed  three  tiines  in  the  same 
manner. 

This  ridiculous  ceremony  was  not,  like  the  festival  of  fools  and 
some  other  pageants  of  those  ages,  a  mere  farcical  entertainment 
exhibited  in  a  church,  and  mingled,  as  was  then  the  custom,  with  an 
imitation  of  some  reliirious  rites.  It  was  an  act  of  devotion  performed 
by  the  ministers  of  Romanism,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  Church. 

Those  eight  religious  orders  grasped  the  greater  part  of  the  property 
in  England.  Four  other  monkish  tribes  held  no  possessions  of  their 
own,  but  being  like  the  frogs  in  Egypt  in  numbers  and  ubiquity, 
virtually  were  masters  of  the  island,  as  it  was  deemed  a  crime  equal 
to  sacrilege,  to  deny  them  admission  to  any  place  which  they  con- 
descended to  honor  with  their  presence. 

Franciscans. — The  Franciscans,  or  Gray  Friars,  were  instituted  in 
the  vf^ar  120o,  by  Francis,  whose  first  prank  of  holiness  was  robbing 
his  father,  for  which  pious  act  being  disinherited,  he,  like  a  true 
ranter,  stript  himself  stark  naked,  and  ran  away  towards  a  chapel 
near  Assisy  in  Umbria,  where  being  a  beggar  himself,  he  began  a 
begging  order  ;  which  being  founded  on  sloth  and  idleness,  drew  in 
so  many  convents,  that  Francis,  even  in  his  life  time,  saw  two  thou- 


APPENDIX.  261 

sand  convents  of  his  own  monks,  all  mumpers,  gypsies,  vagrants, 
and  such  hke  persons,  taking  upon  him  his  profession  of  sanctity, 
which  agreed  so  well  with  their  own  inclinations.  It  were  endless 
here  to  enumerate  those  many  ridiculous  and  blasphemous  miracles, 
with  which  his  lying  legend  is  filled  j  such  as  the  bearing  the  marks 
of  Christ  upon  his  body,  which  were  imprinted  there  by  Christ  him- 
self; such  as  his  conversing  intimately  with  the  Virgin  Mary;  such 
as  his  healing  the  lame  and'  blind,  nay,  and  even  raising  the  dead  to 
life.  Miracles,  upon  the  strength  of  which,  his  blind  followers  have 
not  hesitated  to  publish  him  greater  than  John  the  Baptist,  and  to  all 
the  apostles,  and  to  affirm  that  a  roll  from  heaven  declared  him  to  be 
the  "  Grace  of  God."  Nay,  they  have  not  been  ashamed  to  call  him 
"  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  King  of  the  Jews."  Relying  upon  the  sincerity 
of  the  author  of  his  legend,  I  mean  Lucifer,  whose  seat  this  great 
saint  fills  in  heaven,  who  being  once  abjured  by  a  priest,  answered, 
that  "  there  were  only  two  men  marked  alike,  Christ  and  Francis." 

Dominicans  or  Black  Friars. — They  took  their  rise  in  the  year  1216, 
from  that  godly  butcher,  Dominick,  whose  catholic  zeal  was  first 
manifested  in  the  barbarous  crusade  which  he  set  on  foot  against 
those  innocent  people,  the  Albigenses,  of  whom  above  one  hundred 
thousand  were  massacred  at  once,  by  that  saint's  instigation  ;  for  at  a 
smaller  price  of  blood  he  could  not  hope  to  purchase  a  canonization  in 
a  Church,  which  was  so  well  stocked  with  such  kind  of  saints  before. 
To  give  yet  a  farther  instance  of  his  Christian  charity,  when  he  saw 
how  the  number  of  heretics  were  diminished  by  his  wholesome  seve- 
rities, like  a  true  high-church  champion,  he  listed  into  his  order  a  set 
of  merciless  ruffians,  whom  he  styled  the  militia  of  Jesus  Christ ; 
whose  employment  ^'as  to  cut  the  throats  of  all  those  who  were  so 
schismatical  as  to  dissent  from  him  in  opinion.  It  was  he  also  who 
founded  that  merciful  Court  of  justice,  called  the  Inquisition,  nor  did 
he  want  for  miracles  any  more  than  his  brother  Francis  :  for  though 
he  had  no  such  bodily  marks,  yet  he  received  the  Holy  Ghost  with 
the  same  glory  of  a  flaming  tongue  as  the  apostles  did  ;  and  whereas 
Christ  being  Verbum  Dei,  only  proceeded  from  the  mouth  of  God, 
Dominick  was  seen  to  come  from  his  breast.  Nay  farther,  he  like 
Paul  was  ravished  into  the  third  heaven,  where  seeing  none  of  his 
own  order  he  complained  to  Jesus  Christ  of  it ;  who  exhibited  his 
mother,  the  Virgin  Mary,  cherishing  vast  numbers  of  his  followers  in 
a  manner  that  delicacy  compels  us  to  conceal.  This  diabolical  sect 
pretended  to  follow  the  rule  of  Austin,  and  multiplied  so  fast,  that  in 
the  space  of  two  hundred  and  seventy  years,  they  had  one  thousand 
one  hundred  and  forty-three  convents. 

Carmelites,  or  White  Fria7's. — They  pretend  that  the  prophet  Elias 
was  the  first  Carmelite,  who  obtained  of  our  Saviour  at  the  time  of 
his  transfiguration  on  Mount  Carmel,  this  grand  privilege,  that  his 
order  should  remain  till  the  end  of  the  world.  The  true  time  of  their 
foundation,  was  in  the  year  1122,  by  Albert,  patriarch  of  Jerusalem, 
who  gathered  together  a  few  Hermites,  that  lived  on  Mount  Carmel, 
and  gave  them  the  pretended  rule  of  Basil.  When  Palestine  was 
taken  by  the  Saracens,  they  flocked  into  Europe,  where  Pope  Hono- 
rius  IV.  altered  their  habits,  and  for  an  indication  of  their  humility, 
dubbed  them  Christ's  Uncles,  ordering  them  to  be  called  Brothers  of 
the  Virgin  Mary.  Innocent  IV.  upon  their  parting  with  that  heretical 
clause  in  one  of  their  rules,  "  that  they  only  ought  to  hope  for  salva- 
tion from  our  Saviour,"  like  a  true  Pope,  granted  them  many  immu- 


262 


APPENDIX. 


nities  and  priviles^es  ;  whose  example  was  followed  by  Pope  John 
XXII.  he  being  thereunto  moved  by  a  vision  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
w'ho  according  to  his  pretended  usual  familiarity,  accosted  'him 
in  these  words  :  "By  express  command  of  Me  and  my  Son,  thou 
shalt  grant  this  privilege,  that  whosoever  enters  this  my  order  shall 
be  free  from  guilt  and  punishment  of  their  sins,  and  eternally  saved." 
Urban  IV.  was  likewise  favorable  unto  them  :  as  was  Eugenius  VI. 
who  mitigated  their  rule,  and  permitted  them  to  eat  flesh,  as  a  reward 
for  their  having  burned  alive  one  Thomas,  brother  of  their  own  order, 
for  blasphemously  affirming,  that  the  abominations  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  needed  a  reformation. 

This  successive  friendship  of  Popes  to  them,  increased  their  con- 
vents to  a  number  not  inferior  to  that  of  any  other  order.  And  they 
made  such  good  use  of  the  Virgin  Mary's  favor  in  exempting  them 
from  the  guilt  of  sin,  that  Nicholas  of  Narbona,  general  of  their 
order,  after  having  reproached  them  with  their  hypocrisy  and  abomi- 
nations, in  the  year  1270,  retired  from  their  society,  being  no  longer 
able  to  bear  with  their  scandalous  lives.  They  passed  over  into  Eng- 
land about  the  year  1265,  and  had  for  their  general  Symon  Stock,  so 
called  from  his  living  in  a  hollow  tree. 

Austin  Friars. — They  derive  their  original  from  the  same  person 
with  the  Regular  Canons,  and  by  the  same  forger}'.  Their  beginning 
was  founded  on  this  ridiculous  story,  from  their  own  legends.  It  hap- 
pened on  a  certain  occasion,  as  Pope  Alexander  IV.  lay  half  asleep 
and  half  awake,  that  the  great  Augustin,  though  dead  and  rotten 
some  hundred  years  before,  appeared  to  him  under  a  dreadful  figure, 
having  a  head  as  big  as  a  tun,  and  the  rest  of  his  body  as  small  as  a 
read  ;  by  which  mysterious  form,  the  Pope  immediately  knew  the 
saint,  and  concluded  that  he  ought  to  found  an  order  to  this  Holy 
Father,  whose  head  could  not  be  at  rest  in  the  grave  for  want  of  a 
body.  And  this  gave  rise  to  these  mendicant  Augustinian  Friars, 
who  being  confirmed  by  following  popes,  increased  so  prodigiously 
as  to  have  in  a  few  years  above  two  thousand  convents  of  men,  and 
three  hundred  of  women.  They  passed  from  Italy  into  England,  in 
the  year  1252  ;  and  at  their  arrival  a  raging  sickness  broke  out  in 
London,  and  spread  over  the  whole  kingdom,  as  a  presage  of  the  de- 
struction and  plague,  which  these  vermin  would  in  tmie  bring  upon 
the  nation. 

Hospitallers  of  John  of  Jerusalem,  and  Knight  Templars. — They  fol- 
lowed the  rule  of  Augustin  in  many  points,  but  were  wholly  excluded 
from  the  exercise  of  the  canonical  office  :  their  vow  was  to  receive, 
to  treat  and  defend  pilgrims,  and  also  to  maintain  with  force  of  arms 
the  Christian  religion  in  their  country  ■  none  weie  admitted  amongst 
them,  but  those  v\-ho  were  of  noble  extraction,  whilst  the  religious 
societies  were  for  the  most  part  composed  of  the  dregs  of  the  earth  ; 
and  they  acquired  to  themselves  such  immense  treasure,  as  procured 
them  the  envy  and  hatred  of  all  orders  ;  which  was  the  true  cause  of 
the  total  extirpation  of  the  Templars,  and  contributed  to  the  diminu- 
tion of  the  power  and  revenue  of  the  Hospitallers,  who  are  now  called 
Knights  of  Malta. 

Not  inserting  therefore  these  two  military  societies,  we  shall  find 
that  the  number  of  religious  orders  amounted  exactly  to  twelve  ;  two 
plagues  more  than  ever  Egypt  felt,  and  of  a  much  more  dreadful  na- 
ture. For  Moses  only  turned  their  rivers  into  blood  ;  whereas  the 
monks,  by  their  persecutions  converted  the  whole  nation  into  a  sea  of 


APPENDIX,  263 

blood  :  he  sent  frogs,  lice,  and  flies  into  all  their  quarters,  much  less 
troublesome  vermin  than  those  mendicant  friars,  who  swarmed  in  all 
the  private  families  :  he  called  for  murrain  upon  the  Egyptian  cattle, 
and  for  boils  upon  the  flesh  of  their  inhabitants  ;  and  what  were  the 
religious  orders  less,  than  the  consumers  of  the  substance,  and  the 
corruption  of  the  people?  He  commanded  hail  and  locusts,  which 
destroyed  only  one  season's  crop  ;  but  those  sanctified  caterpillars 
devoured  the  land  for  ages  together.  He  caused  a  darkness  which 
soon  passed  away  ;  but  the  eclipse  which  these  men  brought  upon 
the  light  of  the  Gospel,  endured  for  more  than  twelve  hundred  years. 
And  lastly,  the  first-born  only,  in  that  unhappy  land  were  slain  by  the 
angel  of  God  ;  whereas  in  that,  then  much  more  miserable  country, 
those  messeuijers  of  the  devil  sacrificed  whole  families  to  their  cove- 
tousness  and  lust.  That  men  should  desire  the  onions  of  Egypt  is  no 
wonder  ;  but  that  they  should  long  for  its  very  plagues,  is  a  folly  pe- 
culiar only  to  superstition. 

The  rules  of  the  Nuns  were  exactly  the  same  with  those  of  their 
brethren,  the  Friars,  in  each  respective  order,  to  whom  they  served 
only  as  an  appendix  or  house  of  ease.  All  that  may  be  truly  aflSrmed 
of  them  is,  that  they  were  a  set  of  silly,  superstitious  women,  who 
thought  it  to  be  a  piece  of  spiritual  devotion  to  be  subservient  to  the 
monks,  in  gratifying  the  lusts  of  the  flesh;  and  bore  to  the  world  the 
face  of  chaste  Christian  sisters,  whilst,  like  a  Turkish  seraglio,  they 
carried  in  private  the  teeming  marks  of  the  labor  of  their  ghostly 
fathers. 

Jesuits. — A  plague  exceeding  all  the  rest  succeeded  the  Reform- 
ation, and  was  contrived  by  the^Iother  of  Abominations  of  the  earth 
to  overthrow  the  consequences  of  that  glorious  event.  The  Jesuits 
sprang  up  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1540.  Their  first  founder  was 
Ignatius  Loyola,  a  Spanish  soldier,  who  collecting  together  all  the 
different  monastic  rules  of  preceding  orders,  added  thereunto  some 
extraordinary  ones  of  his  own,  particularly  this  :  "that  the  general, 
provincials,  and  superiors,  of  this  order,  may  dispense  with  all  laws, 
human  and  divine,  dissolve  all  oaths  and  vows,  and  free  men  from  the 
obligation  of  all  rules  and  decrees."  They  were  called  Jesuits,  from 
a  pretended  vision  of  God  the  Father,  who  appeared  visibly  to  Igna- 
tius Loyola,  and  desired  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  who  stood  by  laden 
with  a  heavy  cross,  to  take  a  special  care  both  of  him  and  his  com- 
panions, which  Christ  promised  he  would  not  fail  to  do  at  Rome. 
This  pestiferous  sect  multiphed  so  fast,  that  in  the  year  1608,  Riba- 
diniera  reckons  that  they  possessed  thirty-one  provinces,  twenty-one 
professed  houses,  thirty-three  noviciates,  ninety-six  residential  houses, 
and  two  hundred  and  ninety-three  colleges,  besides  their  first  college, 
which  they  pretend  w^as  in  the  womb  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  These 
Jesuits  are  much  the  most  dangerous  vermin  of  all  those  who  pretend 
to  the  name  of  Religious,  inasmuch  as  they  declare,  no  villainy,  no 
treachery  nor  cruelty,  to  be  criminal,  provided  it  tends  to  the  benefit  of 
their  society.  And  by  this  means,  whenever  a  nation  is  so  unfortunate 
as  to  be  overrun  with  this  diabolical  crew,  no  one  member  of  the  com- 
munity can  promise  to  himself  security  either  to  his  life,  honor,  or 
estate.  Nay,  the  person  of  a  monarch  is  not  exempted  from  danger, 
when  he  is  once  become  an  object  of  Jesuistical  spleen  ;  as  was 
notoriously  manifested  in  the  whole  series  of  the  reign  of  King 
Henry  IV.  of  France,  whose  life  was  many  times  attempted  by  these 
ghostly  fathers,  before  they  accomplished  their  wicked  ends.     I  shall 


264  APPENDIX. 

only  mention  three  of  their  most  remarkable  conspiracies.  The  first 
was  that  of  Peter  Barriere,  a  soldier,  engaged  to  commit  the  murder 
by  Christopher  Abre,  curate  of  Andre  des  Ares,  and  by  Varade,  the 
rector  of  the  Jesuits'  College.  The  former  told  him,  "  that  by  such 
an  act,  he  would  gain  great  glory,  and  paradise."  The  latter, 
"  that  enterprise  was  most  holy,  and  that  with  good  constancy  and 
courage,  he  ought  to  confess  himself,  and  receive  the  blessed  sacra- 
ment," which  he  accordingly  did  ;  and  being  thus  Jesuistically  pre- 
pared, he  embarked  in  the  attempt,  but,  whilst  he  was  watching  an 
opportunity  to  put  his  bloody  design  in  execution,  was  timely  dis- 
covered, and  received  the  due  reward  of  his  villainy. 

The  second  conspirator  was  Jean  Chastel,  son  to  a  draper  in  Paris, 
and  by  his  own  confession,  bred  up  among  the  Jesuits  in  their  king- 
killing  doctrine  ;  and  being  persuaded  by  them,  that  the  murder  of 
king  Henry  IV.  would  atone  for  all  his  past  sins,  and  merit  heaven, 
he  attempted  it  by  stabbing  that  monarch  in  the  mouth  with  a  knife  ; 
which  occasioned  this  remarkable  saying  of  the  king's — "It  seems 
then,  that  it  is  not  enough  that  the  mouths  of  so  many  good  men  have 
testified  against  the  Jesuits  as  my  enemies,  if  they  be  not  also  con- 
demned by  my  own  mouth."  It  was  for  this  fact  that  these  ghostly 
fathers  were  banished  France,  and  a  column  was  erected  on  the  very 
place  where  the  parricide's  house  stood,  in  memory  of  them,  and  of 
their  assassin  disciples. 

The  last  and  most  effectual  regicide,  whom  these  fathers  employed, 
was  the  bold  and  bloody  villain  Ravaillac,  who  gave  Henry  IV.  his 
mortal  stab,  on  May  14,  1610,  after  he  had  escaped  above  fifty  con- 
spiracies, most  of  them  contrived  by  priests  against  his  life.  That 
the  Jesuits  employed  this  murderer,  we  have  the  testimony  of  Father 
Paul,  who  lived  at  that  time  ;  and,  as  he  was  counsellor  of  state  to  the 
republic  of  Venice,  was  perfectly  well  acquainted  with  the  intrigues 
of  all  the  courts  of  Europe.  He  tells  us  that  the  Jesuits  were  the 
trainers  up  of  Ravaillacs  and  king  killers,  and  that  they  were  the 
authors  of  the  death  of  that  great  prince. 

It  were  tedious  to  enumerate  the  murders,  treasons,  rebellions,  blas- 
phemies, and  such  like  crimes,  for  which  that  society  has  been  banish- 
ed out  of  France,  from  Dantzic,  from  the  Venetian  territories,  out  of 
Thorn  and  Cracovia,  and  Bohemia;  not  to  mention  that  inhuman 
contrivance  of  theirs  in  England,  to  blow  up  both  a  king  and  parlia- 
ment at  once. 

The  following  is  the  Jesuits'  manner  of  consecrating  both  the  per- 
sons and  weapons  employed  for  the  murdering  of  kings  and  princes, 
by  them  accounted  heretics. 

"  The  person  whose  silly  reasons  the  Jesuits  have  overcome  with 
their  more  potent  argument,  is  immediately  conducted  into  their 
Sanctum  Sanctorum,  designed  for  prayer  and  meditation.  There 
the  dagger  is  produced,  carefully  wrapt  up  in  a  linen  safeguard,  in- 
closed in  an  ivory  sheath,  engraven  with  several  enigmatical  charac- 
ters, and  accompanied  with  an  Agnus  Dei  ;  certainly  a  most  mon- 
strous copulation,  so  unadvisedly  to  intermix  the  height  of  murderous 
villainy,  and  the  most  sacred  emblem  of  meekness,  together. 

"The  dagger  being  unsheathed,  is  hypocritically  bedewed  with 
holy  water  ;  and  the  handle,  adorned  with  a  certain  number  of  coral 
beads,  put  into  his  hand  ;  thereby  assuring  the  credulous  fool,  that 
as  many  effectual  stabs  as  he  gives  the  assassinated  prince,  so  many 
souls  he  should  redeem  out  of  purgatory  on  his  own  account.     Then 


APPENDIX. 


265 


they  deliver  the  dagger  into  the  parricide's  hands,  Vvith  a  solemn  re- 
commendation in  these  words  : — 

"Elected  son  of  God,  receive  the  sword  of  Jephthah,  the  sword  of 
Samson,  lohich  tons  the  jaw-bone  of  an  ass,  the  sword  of  David  where- 
with he  smote  off  the  head  of  Goliath,  the  sword  of  Gideon,  the  sword 
of  Judith,  the  sword  of  the  Maccabees,  the  sword  of  Pope  Julius  11., 
wherewith  he  cut  off  the  lives  of  several  princes,  his  enemies,  filling 
whole  cities  vvith  slaughter  and  blood  :  go  prosper,  prudently  coura- 
geous ;  and  the  Lord  strengthen  thy  arm."  Which  being  pronounced, 
they  all  foil  upon  their  knees,  and  the  superior  of  the  Jesuits  pro- 
nounces the  following  exorcism  :  "Attend,  O  ye  cherubims  ;  descend 
and  be  present,  O  seraphims  ;  you  thrones,  you  powers,  you  holy 
angels,  come  down  and  fill  this  blessed  vessel,  the  parricide,  with 
eternal  glory,  and  daily  offer  to  him,  for  it  is  but  a  small  reward,  the 
crown  of  the  blessed  Virgin  Mary,  and  of  all  the  holy  patriarchs  and 
martyrs.  He  is  no  more  concerned  among  u?,  he  is  now  of  your  ce- 
lestial fraternity.  And  thou,  O  God  most  terrible  and  inaccessible, 
who  yet  has  revealed  to  this  instrument  of  thine  in  thy  dedicated  place 
of  our  prayer  and  meditation,  that  such  a  prince  is  to  be  cut  off  as  a 
tyrant  and  a  heretic,  and  his  dominions  to  be  translated  to  another 
line  ;  confirm  and  strengthen,  we  beseech  thee,  this  instrument  of 
thine,  whom  we  have  consecrated  and  dedicated  to  that  sacred  office, 
that  he  may  be  able  to  accomplish  thy  will.  Grant  him  the  habergeon 
of  thy  divine  omnipotency,  that  he  may  be  enabled  to  escape  the  hands 
of  his  pursuers.  Give  him  wings,  that  he  may  avoid  the  designs 
of  all  that  lie  in  wait  for  his  destruction.  Infuse  into  his  soul  the 
beams  of  thy  consolation,  to  uphold  and  sustain  the  weak  fabric  of 
his  body  ;  that  contemning  all  fears,  he  may  be  able  to  show  a  cheer- 
ful and  lively  countenance  in  the  midst  of  present  torments  or  pro- 
longed imprisonments  ;  and  that  he  may  sing  and  rejoice  vvith  a  more 
than  ordinary  exultation,  whatever  death  he  undergoes." 

"  This  exorcism  beng  finished,  the  parricide  is  brought  to  the  altar, 
over  which  at  that  time  hangs  a  picture  containing  the  story  of  James 
Clement,  a  Dominican  Friar,  with  the  figures  of  several  angels  pro- 
tecting and  conducting  him  to  heaven.  This  Clement  was  accounted 
a  blessed  martyr  for  his  barbarous  murder  of  Henry  111.,  king  of 
France.  This  picture  the  Jesuits  show  their  cully  ;  and,  at  the  same 
time  presenting  him  with  a  celestial  coronet,  rehearse  these  words — 
'  Lord,  look  down  and  behold  this  arm  of  thine,  the  executioner  of  thy 
justice  ;  let  all  thy  saints  arise,  and  give  place  to  him:'  which  cere- 
monies being  ended,  there  are  only  five  Jesuits  deputed  to  converse 
with,  and  keep  the  parricide  company  ;  who,  in  their  common  dis- 
course, make  it  their  business,  upon  all  occasions,  to  fill  his  ears  with 
their  divine  wheedles  ;  making  him  believe  that  a  certain  celestial 
splendor  shines  in  his  countenance,  by  the  beams  whereof  they  are  so 
overawed,  as  to  throw  themselves  down  before  him  and  kiss  his  feet ; 
that  he  appears  no  more  a  mortal,  but  is  transfigured  into  a  deity  ;  and 
lastly,  in  a  deep  dissimulation,  they  bewail  themselves,  and  feign  a 
kind  of  envy  at  the  happiness  and  eternal  glory  which  he  is- so  sud- 
denly to  enjoy  ;  exclaiming  thus  before  the  credulous  wretch — 'Would 
to  God,  the  Lord  had  chosen  me  in  thy  stead,  and  had  so  ordained  it 
by  these  means,  that,  being  freed  from  the  pains  of  purgatory,  1  might 
^o  directly  without  let  to  paradise!'  but  if  the  persons  whom  they 
imagined  proper  to  attempt  the  parricide,  prove  any  thing  squeamish, 
or  reluctant  to  their  exhortations,  then,  by  nocturnal  scarecrows  and 

2.3 


S66  A.PPENDIX. 

affrighting  apparitions,  or  by  the  suborned  appearances  of  the  Holy 
Virgin,  or  some  other  of  the  saints,  even  of  Ignatius  Loyala  himself, 
or  some  of  his  most  celebrated  associates,  they  terrify  the  soon  re- 
trieved misbeliever,  into  a  compliance,  with  a  ready  prepared  oath, 
vi^hich  they  force  him  to  take,  and  thereby  they  animate  and  encourage 
his  staggering  resolution.  Thus  these  villainous  and  impious  doctors 
in  the  arts  of  murder  and  parricide,  sometimes  by  the  terrors  of  punish- 
ment, sometimes  b}'  the  allurements  of  merit,  inflame  the  courage  of 
the  unwary,  and,  having  entangled  them  in  the  nooses  of  sacrilegious 
and  bloody  attempts,  precipitate  both  soul  and  body  into  eternal 
damnation." 

This  is  the  method  bij  tohich  the  Jesuits  clear  themselves  from  their  ene- 
mies ;  hoiv  happy  then  mrist  that  nation  be  u'here  Loyalists  flourish  ! 

This  account  of  the  religious  orders  in  the  Papal  Hierarchy,  is  com- 
piled from  statements  which  the  monks  themselves  have  recorded,  and 
for  the  truth  of  which  they  are  witnesses  and  vouchers  ;  and  if  so 
ridiculous  a  scene  of  superstition,  falsehood  and  blasphemy,  as  that 
which  appears  in  the  original  and  progress  of  every  order,  be  not  suf- 
ficient to  create  an  aversion  from  Popery,  even  in  its  most  zealous  advo- 
cates, they  must  have  lost  all  sense  both  of  Liberty  and  Relig"ion. 


INDEX. 


Abuses  of  the  Church,  55 

Alexander  VI.  Pope,  166 

Altars  privileored,  134 

Anna  Merhni^  Nun,  87 

Anniversary  Masses,  134 

Apparition  of  a  Spirit,  206 

Assembly  of  Florence,  118 

Asylums,  64 

Auctorem  Fidei,  Bull,  196 

Augustin's  doctrine,  12S 

Austin  Friars,  262 

Bellarmine,  161 

Benedictines,  257 

Benediction  of  Bells,  77 
Bishop's  oath  to  the  Popes,      157 

Bonaparte,  205 

Books  in  the  Monasteries,  11 1 

Books  prohibited,  136 

Borghitriani,  Priest,  94 

Bribes  for  perjurv,  218 

Bull,  Auctorem  Fidei,  196 

Bull,  In  Coena  Domini,  44 

Buzzacherini,  Priest,  93 

Cambridge,  13 

Canon  Law,  158 

Canons,  259 

Cardinal  Busca,  189 

Cardinal  Ruffo,  51 

Carmelites,  261 

Carthusians,  258 

Cases  of  conscience,  173 
Catharine  Irene  Buonanichi, 

Nun,  90 
Cistercians,  258 
Clement  XIV.  Pope,  20 
Clerical  immorality,  189 
Clodesia  de  Spighi,  Nun,  90 
Coachman  Priests,  57 
Confessor  of  Pope  Pius,  229 
Consequences  of  papal  domi- 
nion, 254 
Convents — 

Castiglion  Fiorentino,  58 

Catharine,  60 

Lucia,  75 

Santa  Croce,  60 

Convents  suppressed,  56 

Council  of  Florence,  182 

Crudzli,  Professor,  109 

Dancing  Nuns,  170 

Death  of  Pope  Ganganelli,       29 

Debt  for  Masses,  157 


Decretals,  159 
Despotism  of  Rome,  127 
Devotion  to  the  heart  of  Jesus,  77 
Diminution  of  Convents,  175 
Dispensations,  153 
Dominican  Monks,  80,  261 
Ecclesiastical  Courts,  j^l71 
Ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  148 
English  Universities,  13 
False  decretals,  127 
Faria,  Monk,  216 
Festival  of  Ricci's  Saint  Ca- 
tharine, 235 
Festivals,  132 
Flavia  Peraccine,  Nun,  84 
Florence,  Council,  118,  182 
Franciscan  Monks,  113,  260 
Galileo,  15 
Genoese  Convents,  253 
Gilbertines,  259 
Girdle  of  the  Virgin,  136 
G-egory  VII.  Pope,  163 
Hospitallers,  262 
Ignorance  of  Priests,  113,  240 
Ignorance  of  the  people,  177 
Image  crowned,  204 
Impurity  of  Nuns,  253 
In  Coena  Domini,  Bull,  44 
Inconstancy  of  Ricci,  239 
Index  expurgatorius,  143 
Indulgences,  134 
Indulgences  for  the  dead,  135 
Infidel  Priests,  215 
Influence  of  Monachism  upon 

society,  14 

Inquisition,  109 

Inquisition  in  Tuscany,  223 

Insurrection  of  Arezzo,  210 

Interdicts,  164 

Jerome  Savonarola,  Martyr,  212 

Jesuitism,  101 

Jesuit  logic,  27 
Jesuits,                         160,  238,  263 

Jesuits  turned  Brachmans,  217 

Knox,  the  Reformer,  255 

Letter  of  Villensi,  55 

Lillies  withered,  206 

Literature  of  the  dark  ages,  13 

Louis  I.  of  Etruria,  222 

Lucia,  Convent,  75 

Lucrece  Beroardi,  Nun,  59 

Lupi,  Priest,  94 


268 


Madonna  of  Ancona,  20] 

Manni,  Priest,  93 

Maria  Catliarine  Berni,  Nun,  60 
Maria  Catharine  Rossi,  Nun,  86 
Maria  Mai^dalen  Sicini,  Nun,  61 
Marianna  Santini,  Nun,  85 

Marriage,  137 

IVIasses,  price  of,  134 

Mathurines,  260 

Matrimonial  dispensations,  170 
Memoir  by  Rucellai,  40 

Mendicant  orders,  137 

Mengoni,  Abbe,  218 

Menocchio,  Pope's  confessor,  229 
Miracle  at  Ancona,  201 

Miracle  by  an  image,  26 

Miraculous  image,  16!:> 

Miraculous  oil,  207 

Monachism  opposed  to  know- 
ledge and  piety,  13 
Monasteries,  168 
Monastic  system  and  Chris- 
tianity, 18 
Money  for  Masses,  131 
Money  from  Venice  for  the 

Pope,  152 

Monkish  orders,  254 

Monks  and  Nuns,  238 

Netherlands,  185 

Number  of  Masses,  155 

Number  of  Tuscan  Priests,  120 
Nunneries  at  Lisbon,  237 

Nunneries  contrary  to  nature,  10 
Nunneries  in  India,  237 

Nunnery  at  Charlestovvn,  7 

NUNS. 

Anna  Merlini,  87 

Cath.  Irene  Buvnamici,  90 

Clodesia  De  Spighi,  90 

Flavia  Peraccini,  84 

Lucrece  Beroardi,  59 

Maria  Catharine  Berni,  60 

Maria  Catharine  Rossi,  85 

Maria  Magdalen  Sicini,  61 

Marianna  Santini,  85 

Victoire  Benedetti,  61 

Oath  of  Roman  Priests,  49 

Oath  of  vassalage  to  the  Pope,  138 

Opposition  to  reform,  ]48 

Oratories,  132 

Oxford,  13 

Paccanaristes,  226 

Pacchiani,  Priest,  61 

Papal  arrogance,  165 

Papal  doctrines  of  reform,  141 

Papal  exactions  of  money,  153 


Papal  usurpations,  167 

Pay  for  Masses,  156 

Perjury  bought,  218 

Persecutions,  208 

Pistoia,  Synod,  ISO 
Pope  Gaiiganelli  poisoned,  30 
Popes  the  greatest  criminals,  239 

Popish  blasphemy,  203 

Popular  ignorance,  177 

Postillion  priests,  57 

Power  of  the  Papacy,  158 

Proemonstratenses,  259 

Price  of  Masses,  134 

PRIESTS. 

Borghigiani,  94 

Buzzachinni,  93 

Lupi,  94 

Manni,  93 

Pacchiani,  61 

Priests'  oath,  49,  138 

Priests'  quarrels,  134 

Priests  subject  to  civil  power,  151 

Privileged  altars,  134 

Prohibited  books,  136 

Purgatory,  135 

Gluarrels  among  priests,  134 

Reform  of  religious  orders,        139 

Ricci  and  PiusVII.  reconciled,  229 

Ricei,  bishop,  39 

Ricci's  apology,  187 

death,  236 

recantation,  229 

St.  Catharine,  225 

Riot  at  Prato,  183 

Roman  festivals,  58 

Roman  priests,  assassins,  240 

Roman  priests'  oath,  49 

Roman  stratagems,  ]  54 

Rucellai's  memoir,  40 

Ruffo,  archbishop,  51 

Santa  Croce,  nunnery,  60 

Subornation  of  perjury,  218 

Suppression  of  convents,  56 

Supremacy  of  the  Pope,  219 

Synod  of  Pistoia,  ISO 

Tax  office  for  Bulls,  58 

Treachery  of  Archbishop  of 

Florence,  222 

Tuscan  priests,  120 

Useless  oaths,  138 

Veiled  images,  133 

Venetian  education,  159 

Virgin  of  Humility,  192 

Weakness  of  Ricci,  231 

Wickedness  of  Popery,  218 

Withered  lillies,  206 


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No.  200  BROADWAY,  NEW  YORK, 


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LECTURES  ON  REVIVALS  OF  RELIGION,  by  Wil- 
liam B.  Sprague,  D.D.,  Pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Albany  ;  with  an  Introductory  Essay,  by  Leonard  Woods, 
D.D.:  also  an  Appendix,  consisting  of  Letters,  from  the  Rev. 
Drs.  Alexander,  Wayland,  Dana,  Miller,  Hyde,  Hawes, 
McDowell,  Porter,  Payson,  Proudfit,  M'llvaine,  Neill,  Mille- 
doler,  Lord,  Humphrey,  Day,  Green,  Waddel,  Griffin,  Da- 
vis, De  Witt,  Tucker,  and  Coffin.  Second  edition,  with  ad- 
ditional Letters. 

"It  is  a  work  that  should  be  in  the  hands  of  all  our  ministers  and 
church  members,  that  their  views  relative  to  revivals  may  rest  on  a 
scriptural  foundation,  that  their  desires  to  God  for  his  reviving  grace 
may  be  stimulated,  their  efforts  directed,  and  tlie  dangers  and  extrava- 
gances avoidea  over  which  the  church  of  Christ  mourns  and  infideUty 
triumphs." — Cincinnati  Standard. 

"In  ordinary  cases  it  would  be  unnecessary  to  notice  the  second  edi- 
tion of  a  work — but  there  are  four  reasons  why  this  volume  should  be 
distinctly  presented  to  the  attention  of  our  Reformed  Dutch  brethren. 

"  1.  It  is  a  book  containing  a  course  of  Lectures  and  a  series  of  letters 
not  much  known  to  our  churches. 

"2.  The  topics  discussed  are  of  great  interest  to  the  prosperity  of  our 
Zion,  and  of  deep  practical  importance  to  individuals. 

"  3.  The  high  price  of  the  first  edition  precluded  many  from  perusing 
it,  who  would  have  rejoiced  in  its  light.  We  take  this  opportunity  to 
remark ;  that  as  people  must  read,  and  purchases  are  often  made  more 
by  the  price  of  the  article,  than  by  its  intrinsic  value ;  we  deem  it  the 
incumbent  duty  of  our  sound  theological  writers  on  doctrines,  experi- 
ence, and  Christian  fidelity,  to  furnish  their  works  at  the  lowest  stand- 
ard price.  They  will  be  much  better  remunerated  by  the  sale  of  10  copies 
at  a  smaller  profit,  than  by  the  disposal  of  one  only  with  twice  the  no- 
7,iinal  gain  ;  setting  aside  all  the  additional  religious  benefits  which  are 
dir-pensed. 

1 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.'s  PUBLICATIONS. 

"4.  The  volume  is  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  19  pasjes,  comprising 
letters  from  Dr.  De  Witt,  of  New  York,  Dr.  Tucker,  of  Troy,  and  Dr. 
Coffin,  of  Tennessee. 

'■  To  praise  these  Lectures  by  Dr.  Sprague  is  just  about  as  necessary, 
as  to  eulogize  bread  and  Water :  it  is  sufficient  to  state,  that  they  are 
the  offspring  of  an  enlightened  Christian's  mind  and  heart  ;  that  every 
officer  and  member  of  our  churches  should  read  these  '  Lectures  on  Re- 
vivals of  Religion^''  and  that  no  sincere  disciple  of  Jesus,  the  Son  of 
God,  will  regret  the  dollar  appropriated  for  the  purchase  of  this  instruct- 
ive and  edifying  volume." — Religious  Intelligencer. 

JOHN  MILTON'S  LIFE  AND  TIMES,  Religious  and 
Political  Opinions ;  with  Animadversions  upon  Dr.  John- 
son's Life  of  Milton,  &c.  By  Joseph  Ivimey.  With  a  por- 
trait.    12mo.,  cloth, — price  75  cents. 

"It  has  been  undertaken  with  the  zeal  of  a  disciple;  it  has  been 
achieved  with  the  skill  of  a  master ;  and  is  worthy  of  the  subject." — 
Metrcpolitan. 

This  work  presents  Milton  in  a  new  light,  not  only  in  the 
character  of  a  poet,  but  as  a  patriot.,  a  protestant,  and  Jion 
conformist ;  and  will  be  found  to  be  highly  interesting. 

THE  LIFE  OF  THE  REV.  T.  T.  THOMASON,  late 
Chaplain  to  the  Hon.  East  India  Company,  by  the  Rev.  J. 
Sargent,  M.A.  Rector  of  Lavington,  author  of  the  Memoir 
of  Henry  Martyn,  with  whom  the  Rev.  Mr.  Thomason  la- 
bored in  India,  1  vol.  12mo.  cloth,  75  cents.  Speaks  of  Mrs. 
Judson,  Newell,  Bishop  Heber,  Bishop  Middleton,  and  others 
in  India,  in  the  most  pleasing  and  interesting  manner. 

Extract  from  the  American  edition  of  Henry  Martyn's  Me- 
moirs, by  the  editor  : 

"The  names  of  few  will  be  recorded  in  the  Annals  of  India,  who  have 
conferred  greater  benefits  upon  it  than  Mr.  Thomason,  and  the  Christian 
philanthropist,  when  associating  in  his  mind  Kurander,  and  Swartz, 
and  Brown,  and  Buchanan,  and  Martyn,  and  Heber,  the  name  of  Tho- 
mason as  a  no  less  true  friend  to  the  cause  of  the  Redeemer." 

This  work  is  recommended  by  the  numerous  literary  and 
religious  papers  and  periodicals  of  the  day,  as  being  not  inferior 
to  the  highly  interesting  memoir  of  Henry  Martyn  by  the 
same  author. 

NEW    GUIDE    TO  HISTORY   AND  CHRONOLOGY. 

CHRONOLOGY  ;  or,  an  Introduction  and  Index  to  Univer- 
sal History,  Biography,  and  Useful  Knowledge  ;  compri- 
sing a  Chronological,  contemporary,  and  alphabetical  record 
of  important  and  interesting  occurrences,  from  the  earliest 
period  to  the  present  time  ;  with  copious  lists  of  eminent 
and  remarkable  persons,  &c. ;  to  which  are  added,  Valpy's 
Poetical  Retrospect ;  Literary  Chronology  ;  and  the  latest 
statistical  views  of  the  world  ;  with  a  chart  of  History.  In- 
tended for  the  use  of  Schools  and  general  reference.  1  vol, 
12mo. 
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